Dove in America perched eyes down, primarily to take a breather … (7)
I believe the answer is:
plunged
'dove in america' is the definition.
('dove' is a US spelling of 'dived')
'perched eyes down primarily to take a breather' is the wordplay.
'primarily' suggests taking the first letters.
'to take' indicates putting letters inside.
'a breather' becomes 'lung' (I've seen this before).
The first letters of 'perched eyes down' is 'ped'.
'ped' going around 'lung' is 'PLUNGED'.
(Other definitions for plunged that I've seen before include "Dived" , "Immersed" , "Dove in US" .)