eyrie
English
WOTD – 26 May 2012
Alternative forms
- eyry, aerie, aery, ayrie (obsolete)
Etymology
From Old French aire or Medieval Latin aeria. Old French aire, in the sense of an eagle's nest, may have derived from Latin ager, or may less likely be related to the other senses, ultimately from Latin ārea.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɪəɹi/, /ˈɛəɹi/, /ˈaɪɹi/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈɛɹi/, /ˈɪɹi/, /ˈaɪɹi/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛəri
Noun
eyrie (plural eyries)
- A bird of prey's nest.
- 1943, Casey A. Wood, F. Marjorie Fyfe, “How to reach the eyrie”, in The Art of Falconry, volume 2, translation of original by Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, →ISBN, page 129:
- The methods employed to ascend to the nest of a bird of prey depend, in each instance, upon its site. If the nest is in a tree, a man can climb up and, having put the young ones in a basket, carry them home. If, however, the eyrie is built in the fissure of a lofty rock, a man is secured to the end of a rope and descends or is lowered from the rim of the mountain or cliff to the level of the hollow in which the eyrie is built and, entering, lifts the bird from the nest.
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- Any high and remote but commanding place.
Translations
bird of prey's nest
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any high and remote but commanding place
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
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