bushy-tailed
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of bushy-tailed
First recorded in 1865–70
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Half past one, I was still awake, all still bright-eyed, and kind of bushy-tailed, and then I went horizontal and dozed off," she recalled.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
I do think a lot of times female protagonists have been very young and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and very plucky.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2024
Obviously with Marge, you can tell she’s somebody who is kind of bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and finds herself in this place and hasn’t had a lot of experience.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2024
While some of us may be going into 2024 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, Trump’s legal team seems to have spent the first week of the new year hunkered down with court filings.
From Slate ● Jan. 8, 2024
At the mere glimpse of one of the nibbling, button-eyed, bushy-tailed creatures, the children would freeze to attention, stare, hunker down, and approach silently in low, even crouches until within striking distance.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
