leaf peeper

plural leaf peepers · alternative leaf-peeper

1. USslangA tree sightseer who enjoys observing the leaves change color in the autumn.

   Fall colors bring leaf peepers out of the woodwork, making it a challenge to find uncrowded roads.

   1995 September, “Technicolor Road Trips”, in Snow Country, volume 10, number 5, Trumbull, Conn.: NYT Sports/Leisure Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, image caption, page 237, column 3

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   Those "leaf peepers" (that's what you will be to locals) whose New England wanderings lead them through Amherst, Boston, Cambridge, [...]

   1984, Robert L. Sammons, Travel Holiday, volume 162, Floral Park, N.Y.: Travel Magazine, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52

   Actually, I'm a leaf peeper myself in May, and when the trail began its acute northwest ascent into the Berkshire foothills west of Greenfield, I found myself marveling at the thousands of pale shades of green and yellow and pink in the new May leaves that walled the roadside and formed a canopy overhead.

   1995, William G. Tapply, chapter 9, in The Seventh Enemy: A Brady Coyne Book, New York, N.Y.: Otto Penzler Books, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, 2013, →ISBN

   The valley was stunning this time of year in particular, which drove thousands of leaf-peepers to enter the Mount Washington Valley by busloads to take in the splendor that lay for all to see.

   2004, Donna Marie Robie, chapter 5, in One Quiet Night: Murder in New Hampshire, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 22

   Perched on a peak amidst the leaf peeper’s paradise of Western North Carolina, Fire Mountain Inn is a secluded retreat with close ties to the land.

   2007 October, “Best Places to Catch Fall Color”, in Rebecca Burns, editor, Atlanta, Atlanta, Ga.: Emmis Publishing, →ISSN, page 244, column 3

   [T]hey found the ski lifts were operating, taking leaf peepers up to the summit to view the beautiful fall foliage.

   2014, Christyne Butler, chapter 5, in The Last-chance Maverick (Harlequin Special Edition), Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin Books, →ISBN, page 81