Definition of "bee-eater" [bee•-eat•er]

• Any of various chiefly tropical Old World birds of the family Meropidae that have brightly colored plumage and feed on bees and wasps. (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.

• "Here is a video of a blue-bearded bee-eater sitting in a tree in dense forest, looking alert, but it is not doing much else filmed in India: You are invited to review all of the daily mystery birds by going to their dedicated graphic index page."
• "Although mainly foraging using aerial sallies, the blue-bearded bee-eater also gleans insects from tree bark."
• "The blue-bearded bee-eater exploits the defensive behavior exhibited by giant honey bees, Apis dorsata, by deliberately provoking guard bees to defend their nest."