wood pewee

American  

Or wood-pewee

noun

1. either of two small North American flycatchers, the western Contopus sordidulus or the eastern C. virens.

---

Etymology

Origin of wood pewee

An Americanism dating back to 1800–10

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wood pewee

The idea is cute and corny: eleven songs with themes that take off from the tunes of far-out birds like the purple finch and the wood pewee.

From Time Magazine Archive

“How would you know about a wood pewee in your business?”

From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

I noted but one nest of the wood pewee, and that, too, like so many other nests, failed of issue.

From Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and Other Papers by Burroughs, John

The common or wood pewee excites the most pleasant emotions, both on account of its plaintive note and its exquisite mossy nest.

From Wake-Robin by Burroughs, John

A bobolink's bubbling carol is unthinkable in a jungle, and the strain of a wood pewee on a sunny hillside would be like an organ playing dance-music.

From Atlantic Classics, Second Series by Addams, Jane