birdie

1 of 2

noun

bird·​ie ˈbər-dē 

plural birdies

1

: a little bird

2

: a golf score of one stroke less than par on a hole compare eagle entry 1

3

: shuttlecock

In Asia, badminton is an obsession … . In one preliminary match in Malaysia, 21,000 people came out to watch the speeding birdie.

—Jennifer Boeth

birdie

2 of 2

verb

birdied; birdieing

transitive verb

: to score a birdie on

Examples of birdie in a Sentence

Noun

I made a birdie on the fifth hole.

I made birdie on the fifth hole.

Verb

She birdied the second hole.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Woods’ 50-foot lag putt on the par-three eighth slipped 10 feet past the hole, and his 30-foot birdie putt on the ninth came up 6 feet short. —Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2024

The most dramatic regional was at Stanford, where the hosts got a pair of birdies on the final hole to pass Mississippi for the fifth and final spot to join Illinois, Florida State, Texas A&M and SMU at La Costa. —Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1768, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1921, in the meaning defined above