pipit

noun

pip·​it ˈpi-pət How to pronounce pipit (audio)
: any of various small songbirds (family Motacillidae and especially genus Anthus) resembling the lark

Examples of pipit in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
In Fairhaven, 25 American pipits on Shaw Road, five pectoral sandpipers on Shaws Cove Road, and two clapper rails and a saltmarsh sparrow. Isabela Rocha, BostonGlobe.com, 15 Apr. 2023 But the birds migrating west were all adults, and climate change may have rerouted the pipit's migration patterns. Elizabeth Gamillo, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Nov. 2021 There were two American pipits and a Pacific loon at Andrews Point in Rockport. BostonGlobe.com, 16 Feb. 2020 Sightings at Nauset Spit in Orleans included a Lapland longspur, 3 marsh wrens, 5 American pipits, 21 Savannah sparrows, a yellow-breasted chat, and 3 bobolinks. BostonGlobe.com, 1 Oct. 2019 With the rats gone, conservationists expect to see an explosion in the number of albatrosses, skuas, terns, petrels, and South Georgia pipits and pintail ducks. Charlie Hamilton James, National Geographic, 17 June 2019 But since the rats were killed, the pipits have already responded, their numbers exploding now that their eggs and chicks are safe. National Geographic, 9 May 2018 Some of the species have declined even more: Meadow pipit populations, for example, fell by 68 percent. James Gorman, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2018 Meadow pipits, for example, have declined by 68 percent. Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 22 Mar. 2018

Word History

Etymology

imitative

First Known Use

1745, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of pipit was in 1745

Dictionary Entries Near pipit

Cite this Entry

“Pipit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pipit. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.

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