phoebe

¹ American  

[fee-bee] / ˈfi bi /

noun

1. any of several small American flycatchers of the genus Sayornis, especially S. phoebe, of eastern North America.

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Phoebe ² American  

[fee-bee] / ˈfi bi /

noun

1. Classical Mythology. a Titan, daughter of Uranus and Gaia and mother of Leto, later identified with Artemis and with the Roman goddess Diana.

2. Astronomy. one of the moons of Saturn.

3. Literary. the moon personified.

4. a female given name.

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Phoebe ¹ British  

/ ˈfiːbɪ /

noun

1. classical myth a Titaness, who later became identified with Artemis (Diana) as goddess of the moon

2. poetic a personification of the moon

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Phoebe ² British  

/ ˈfiːbɪ /

noun

1. the outermost satellite of the planet Saturn. It has retrograde motion and a dark surface

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phoebe ³ British  

/ ˈfiːbɪ /

noun

1. any of several greyish-brown North American flycatchers of the genus Sayornis, such as S. phoebe ( eastern phoebe )

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Etymology

Origin of phoebe¹

1690–1700, imitative; spelling by influence of Phoebe

Origin of Phoebe²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English Phebe, Phebee, from Latin Phoebē, from Greek Phoíbē, feminine of phoîbos “shining, radiant, bright”; Phoebus ( def. ) 

Example Sentences

They also recognized acorn woodpeckers, a California towhee, dozens of turkey vultures circling overhead, a dark-eyed junco, a mockingbird, an Anna’s hummingbird and a black phoebe.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 11, 2023

He, too, watched an eastern phoebe nest at his farm in Mill Grove, Pa., about 200 miles east of here as the flycatcher flies.

From New York Times • Jun. 2, 2023

One day last spring when I went to check on her, I found three raw and naked eastern phoebe nestlings tossed onto the porch floor.

From New York Times • Jun. 2, 2023

It was, she explained from behind a pair of binoculars, her first sighting of a bird called a black phoebe, which normally ranges no closer to Puget Sound than Southern Oregon.

From Washington Times • Apr. 2, 2017

The phoebe clicks out his alarm cry and I tense.

From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George