white-eye
Americannoun
noun
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Also called (NZ): blighty. silvereye. tauhou. waxeye. any songbird of the family Zosteropidae of Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, having a greenish plumage with a white ring around each eye
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any of certain other birds having a white ring or patch around the eye
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of white-eye
First recorded in 1840–50
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.
See Examples For:
The white-eye family includes about 100 species, but they’re mostly tropical, and none live anywhere near here.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 7, 2023
For the white-eye, a small olive bird with a beautiful white ring around its eye, our record is a significant range extension.
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2011
Posts From Papua New Guinea The rufous fantail was common on Duchess Island, along with the mangrove golden whistler and Louisiade white-eye.
From New York Times ● Sep. 22, 2011
Past molecular work by my wife and me has revealed that the low elevation white-eye inhabiting the forests far below us is not the Kolombangara white-eye’s near relative, as once believed.
From New York Times ● Oct. 15, 2010
Jerdon classed it among the tits, and its habits certainly justify the measure; but later ornithologists have not accepted the dictum "Manners makyth bird," and have placed the white-eye among the babblers.
From Birds of the Indian Hills by Dewar, Douglas
An internet search identified them as Japanese white-eyes.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 7, 2023
Local folks tell us that the smaller islands have Nicobar pigeons, Louisiade white-eyes and other species that are not present in human-populated islands.
From New York Times ● Oct. 25, 2011
Another equally intriguing possibility, particularly for the white-eyes, is that eye rings may be signaling membership in a particular group or population.
From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2011
Not all white-eyes have white eye rings, and not all eye rings are created equal.
From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2011
The white-eyes are no longer content to utter their usual cheeping call, the cocks give vent to an exquisite warble and thereby proclaim the advent of the nesting season.
From A Bird Calendar for Northern India by Dewar, Douglas
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.
