ˈbee-ˌeater
A genus of birds (Merops) which devour bees and flies, one species of which (M. apiaster) is an occasional visitant to England. Many of the species are brilliantly coloured.
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 87 Merops..Apiaster, the Bee-eater. 1768 Croker, etc. Compl. Dict. II, Merops, the bee-eater..a very beautiful bird, somewhat larger than the common king-fisher. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile xxii. 684 The bee-eaters flash like live emeralds across our path. 1896 H. A. Bryden Tales S. Afr. vi. 129 Gem-like bee-eaters flashed among the reeds. 1955 Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles IV. 43 The European bee-eater and the blue-cheeked bee-eater, which has once wandered to Britain,..have overlapping migration routes in Egypt, Syria and Persia. |