Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several brownish, long-legged shore birds of the genus Numenius, having long, slender, downward-curving bills.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A bird of the genus Numenius. The name was originally applied to the common European species, N. arquatus, formerly called numenius, arquata, and corlinus. There are upward of 12 species, of all parts of the world, having a long, very slender curved bill, with the upper mandible knobbed at the tip, and in other respects closely resembling the godwits and other species of the totanine division of the great family Scolopacidæ. The plumage is much variegated. The total length varies from about 12 to about 24 inches; and the length of the bill from about 2 to 9 inches. The common curlew is also called the whaup. The lesser curlew or whimbrel of Europe is N. phæopus. There are several species in the United States, as the long-billed curlew (N. longirostris), the Hudsonian or jack-curlew (N. hudsonicus), and the Eskimo curlew or dough-bird (N. borealis).
- n. A name of several grallatorial birds with slender decurved bill, not of the genus Numenius.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of several migratory wading birds in the genus Numenius of the family Scolopacidae, remarkable for their long, slender, downcurved bills.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A wading bird of the genus Numenius, remarkable for its long, slender, curved bill.
WordNet 3.0
- n. large migratory shorebirds of the sandpiper family; closely related to woodcocks but having a down-curved bill
Etymologies
- Middle English curleu, from Old French courlieu, perhaps of imitative origin.
Examples
“The screaming of the curlew is faintly heard even at this distancehe continues to ascend, and the hawk persevere's in her spiral motion, until she has gain'd the upper flight, then hovering makes a pounce swift as lightening on the exhausted curlew, and closing her wings both fall together, until within thirty or forty yards of the ground, when opening them she is by the resisting air brought upper:”
“Except these, the plover and the curlew are the only inhabitants until you come to the Chesterfield high road.”
“The curlew is the most conspicuous; indeed its loud, incessant clamor, its erect carriage, and the intense curiosity which possesses it, and which makes it come up to circle around any strange object, all combine to make it in springtime one of the most conspicuous features of plains life.”
“We saw in the plains vast quantities of buffaloe, a number of small birds, and the large brown curlew, which is now sitting, and lays its eggs, which are of a pale blue with black-specks, on the ground without any nest.”
“The curlew is a bird my father used to see a lot but these days not so much, we occasionally see small flocks near home now - they seem common here which makes me happy.”
“Normally I would hop on a bus to get me back home, but this time I decide I'd walk, up the hills and down the valleys one day I'll get lucky (or buy the right equipment) The curlew is a bird that has captured my imagination since I was a child, we used to travel by bus each Thursday afternoon (along the road in the second picture) to school swimming lessons and from the bus I could see the curlews with their scythe like beaks striding through the rough pasture, they seemed very exotic to me.”
“There are vast quantities of prickly pears, and myriads of grasshoppers, which afford food for a species of curlew which is in great numbers in the plain.”
“The mangrove forest of the Rufiji Delta is any important site for migratory wetland birds, such as curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea), little stint (Calidris minuta), crab plover (Dromas ardeola), roseate tern (Sterna dougallii) and Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia).”
“Such ancient grassland might have 30 species of plant in a single square metre and innumerable invertebrate animals which have supported such remarkable birds as the stone curlew and many skylarks.”
“Ewes which have been recently turned out of the sheds with their lambs, numbered in red and blue like their mothers, baa and bleat in well-drained pastures, while the call of curlew marks the riverside habitat.”
Lists
‘curlew’ hasn't been added to any lists yet.
milosrdenstvi The sea is flecked with bars of gray,
The dull dead wind is out of tune,
And like a withered leaf the moon
Is blown across the stormy bay.
Etched clear upon the pallid sand
The black boat lies: a sailor boy
Clambers aboard in careless joy
With laughing face and gleaming hand.
And overhead the curlews cry,
Where through the dusky upland grass
The young brown-throated reapers pass,
Like silhouettes against the sky.
-- Oscar Wilde Jan 28, 2010
reesetee No kidding? And here I've always believed it was just a bird. ;-) Thanks, John! Feb 27, 2008
john A confederate navy gunboat, according to Wikipedia. Feb 27, 2008
chained_bear A grallatorial bird of the genus Numenius (family Scolopacidae), with a long slender curved bill; esp. the common European species N. arquatus (called in Scotland whaup).
Have you ever walked the lonesome hills
And heard the curlews cry
Or seen the raven black as night
Upon a windswept sky
--"Young Ned of the Hill," the Pogues, c. 1989 Terry Woods & Ron Kavana Feb 7, 2007