pewee

[ pee-wee ]

noun
  1. any of several New World flycatchers of the genus Contopus.: Compare wood pewee.

  2. the phoebe.

Origin of pewee

1
An Americanism dating back to 1790–1800; imitative

Words Nearby pewee

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pewee in a sentence

  • Presently he had the little girl listen to a pewee twittering in a thorn-bush and the lusty call of a robin from an apple-tree.

  • This bird differs chiefly in its lighter coloring, but not in habits, from the black pewee of the Pacific slope.

    Bird Neighbors | Neltje Blanchan
  • The slightly larger size of the phœbe and pewee is not always apparent when they are seen perching on the trees.

    Bird Neighbors | Neltje Blanchan
  • Now and again, as they rustled some low tree, a pewee or a nuthatch would give a startled chirp.

    Earth's Enigmas | Charles G. D. Roberts
  • One thing must be said, however, in defence of the western wood-pewee—he means well.

    Birds of the Rockies | Leander Sylvester Keyser

British Dictionary definitions for pewee

pewee

peewee

/ (ˈpiːwiː) /


noun
  1. any of several small North American flycatchers of the genus Contopus, having a greenish-brown plumage

Origin of pewee

1
C19: imitative of its cry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012