wood pewee

American  

Or wood-pewee

noun

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

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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 think the prize nest of the woods, if we except the nest of the hummingbird, is that of the wood pewee.

From Under the Maples by Burroughs, John

A wood warbler, on the contrary, always brings before me the rush and hurry of the world of people, and the wood pewee its under-current of eternal sadness.

From Upon The Tree-Tops by Miller, Olive Thorne

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