red-headed woodpecker
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of red-headed woodpecker
An Americanism dating back to 1720–30
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.
Keep your head on a swivel for a flash of color, and you just might see a yellow-billed cuckoo, green heron or red-headed woodpecker.
From Washington Post • Sep. 15, 2022
A red-headed woodpecker works on a tree in Nebraska.
From National Geographic • Nov. 5, 2016
Now, there’s a red-headed woodpecker making the thing swing, and cardinals dot the forest scrub with red coats, waiting until the bigger birds have their fill.
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
![]()
"Hey Chris, bet you don't know the Latin name of the red-headed woodpecker."
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
![]()
All took plenty of arrows and beads and otter-skins and red-headed woodpecker scalps, and started to follow the young man.
From Creation Myths of Primitive America In relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind by Curtin, Jeremiah
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.