pensile

American  

[pen-sahyl, -sil] / ˈpɛn saɪl, -sɪl /

adjective

1. hanging, as the nests of certain birds.

2. building a hanging nest.

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pensile British  

/ pɛnˈsɪlɪtɪ, ˈpɛnsaɪl /

adjective

1. ornithol designating or building a hanging nest

   pensile birds

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Other Word Forms

• pensility
  noun

Etymology

Origin of pensile

1595–1605; < Latin pēnsilis hanging down, equivalent to pēns ( us ) past participle of pendēre to hang (equivalent to pend- verb stem + -tus past participle suffix, with dt > s ) + -ilis -ile

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pensile

My plumy pairs, in gay embroidery dressed, Form with ingenious skill the pensile nest; To Love's sweet notes attune the listening dell, And Echo sounds her soft symphonious shell.

From The Actress in High Life An Episode in Winter Quarters by Bowen, Sue Petigru

These are in great part perpendicular, and are overclambered with airy stairways climbing to pensile arbors.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 119, September, 1867 by Various

I saw myself the inheritor of Trewlove's cast-off personality, his inelegancies of movement, his religious opinions, his bagginess at the knees, his mournful, pensile whiskers— This would never do!

From Two Sides of the Face Midwinter Tales by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

The crested waters sleep; White stars their emerald twilight keep Above the tryst of pensile glories That kiss to purple-and-gold the deep.

From Song-waves by Rand, Theodore H. (Theodore Harding)

It would appear to be over-large for the tiny bird, until we remember that kinglets are wont to have a numerous progeny in their pensile, globular home.

From Bird Neighbors An Introductory Acquaintance with One Hundred and Fifity Birds Commonly Found in the Gardens, Meadows, and Woods About Our Homes by Blanchan, Neltje