pensile
Americanadjective
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hanging, as the nests of certain birds.
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building a hanging nest.
adjective
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ornithol designating or building a hanging nest
pensile birds
Other Word Forms
- pensility noun
Etymology
Origin of pensile
1595–1605; < Latin pēnsilis hanging down, equivalent to pēns ( us ) past participle of pendēre to hang (equivalent to pend- verb stem + -tus past participle suffix, with dt > s ) + -ilis -ile
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Its natural position is exclusively pensile; it moves laterally from branch to branch with great ease, by using each foot alternately, and climbs, when necessary, by means of its claws.
From Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon by Tennent, James Emerson, Sir
They are celebrated for their fine purse-shaped pensile nests.
From Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection A Series of Essays by Wallace, Alfred Russel
Be careful to distinguish between pencil, an instrument for writing, and pensile, meaning hanging down.
From Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language, Corrected by Anonymous
The books are ranged all round the room on open shelves, with a communication to those of the upper row by a pensile gallery that surrounds the whole periphery.
From The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851 by Various
Adj. pendent, pendulous; pensile; hanging &c. v.; beetling, jutting over, overhanging, projecting; dependent; suspended &c. v.; loose, flowing. having a peduncle &c. n.; pedunculate†, tailed, caudate.
From Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases by Roget, Peter Mark
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.