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

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

The note of the wood pewee is a human sigh; the chickadee has a call full of unspeakable tenderness and fidelity.

From Locusts and Wild Honey by Burroughs, John

To my delight the wood pewee flew up in the tree, sat down on a horizontal crotch, and went through the motions of moulding.

From A-Birding on a Bronco by Merriam, Florence A.

I know both the kingbird and the wood pewee sing, not, to be sure, in a way to be compared to the thrushes, though far excelling the utterances of the warblers.

From Upon The Tree-Tops by Miller, Olive Thorne