any of various small swifts of the Asian genus Collocalia that often live in caves and use echolocation: the nests, which are made of hardened saliva, are used in Chinese cookery to make birds' nest soup
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
swift•let
(swift′lit),USA pronunciation n.
- Birdsany of several swifts of the genus Collocalia, of southeastern Asia, the East Indies, and Australia, certain species of which use saliva to construct nests, which are used in making bird's-nest soup.
- swift + -let 1890–95
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