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

The dainty pensile nests which become visible when the leaves fall in the autumn are swung by four species of vireos, the white-eyed, red-eyed, warbling, and yellow-throated.

From The Log of the Sun A Chronicle of Nature's Year by Beebe, William

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

Every year of his life has he seen the beautiful Hang-Bird weave his pensile habitation upon the long and flexible branches of the Elm, secure from the reach of every living creature.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 35, September, 1860 by Various

They construct pensile nests composed of interlaced grass and other similar materials.

From The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary Section T, U, V, and W by Project Gutenberg

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