snowy egret

American  

noun

1. a white egret, Egretta thula, of the warmer parts of the Western Hemisphere: formerly hunted in great numbers for its plumes, the species is now protected and has recovered.

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snowy egret British  

noun

1. a small American egret, Egretta thula, having a white plumage, yellow legs, and a black bill

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Etymology

Origin of snowy egret

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

snowy egret

He said a snowy egret swooped down and looked like it was going to dive for my head, then decided not to.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025

In 1886, snowy egret plumes developed during breeding season were worth $32 per ounce, twice the value of gold at that time, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 5, 2017

And it’s unlikely that the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute would yield anything more extravagant than the plumage of the snowy egret, an apparition of weightless white filament set against a Romantically storm-swollen sky.

From New York Times ● Mar. 27, 2014

A snowy egret spots a good-looking stick floating on the water.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 9, 2013

The snowy egret trails his filmy cloud of plumes, putting to shame the stiff millinery bunches of similar feathers torn from his murdered brethren.

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