Definition of "bird's-eye maple" [bird's•-eye• ma•ple]

• A form of wood, chiefly of the sugar maple, that is patterned with small rounded figures and is especially popular for making musical instruments. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The furnishings were impeccable – cordovan leather armchairs around a bird's-eye maple meeting table, burnished brass floor lamps beside a continental sofa, and hand-etched crystal glassware on a mahogany wet bar."