Definition of "hoopoe" [hoop•oe]

• Any of several Old World birds of the family Upupidae, especially Upupa epops, having distinctively patterned plumage, a fanlike crest, and a slender, downward-curving bill. (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.

• "Of all birds that hatch for themselves the hoopoe is the only one that builds no nest whatever; it gets into the hollow of the trunk of a tree, and lays its eggs there without making any sort of nest."
• "Commentators generally agree that the hoopoe is the bird intended."
• "a bird called a "hoopoe," according to the context."