Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several Old World birds of the genus Vanellus related to the plovers, especially V. vanellus, having a narrow crest and erratic flight behavior. Also called green plover, pewit.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A plover-like bird with four toes, a crest, and lustrous plumage, belonging to the genus Vanellus and family Charadriidæ. The best-known lapwing is V. cristatus, a common European bird, also called
pe-wit , from its cry. The adult male has the upper parts iridescent with green, violet, and purplish tints, the under parts white, a large area on the breast and the top of the head and the long crest black, the tail-coverts chestnut or orange-brown, the tail black and white, the bill black, and the feet red. It is about as large as a pigeon. The eggs are esteemed a great luxury, and many are annually sent to the London markets from the marshy districts of England, under the name of plovers' eggs. There are other species. Also calledflopuing .
Wiktionary
- n. Any of several medium-sized wading birds belonging to the subfamily Vanellinae of the family Charadriidae.
- n. A silly man.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) A small European bird of the Plover family (Vanellus cristatus, or Vanellus vanellus). It has long and broad wings, and is noted for its rapid, irregular fight, upwards, downwards, and in circles. Its back is coppery or greenish bronze. Its eggs are the “plover's eggs” of the London market, esteemed a delicacy. It is called also
peewit ,dastard plover , andwype . The gray lapwing is the Squatarola cinerea.
WordNet 3.0
- n. large crested Old World plover having wattles and spurs
Etymologies
- From Old English hlēapewince, from hlēapan ‘to leap’ + *winc- ‘sway, totter’ (because of its manner of flight). The modern form is partly due to popular etymology. (Wiktionary)
- By folk etymology from Middle English lapwink, hoopoe, lapwing, from Old English hlēapewince : hlēapan, to leap + *wincan, to waver. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The lapwing is a kind of plover, and is very swift of foot.”
“Kibitz The flycatcher (also called lapwing, pewit, and other names) is an insectivorous bird with an irritating cry.”
“a big kind of lapwing and snipe; but the snipe here were cunning, and got up wild and flew far, so I only got a small bag.”
“(March-Cock) from its returning in that month, and our old writers "lapwing" (Deut. xiv.”
“This species, which is endemic to marshes and moorlands located in the Ethiopian highlands, is very much like the northern lapwing, V. vanellus, found in Europe: it is a relatively tame, noisy bird with a swerving flight that feeds on the ground, making short runs and sudden stops.”
The Guardian: Mystery bird: Spot-breasted plover, Vanellus melanocephalus
“The spot-breasted lapwing is distinguished from its close relatives by the fleshy wattles in front of its eyes and by its black-spotted breast.”
The Guardian: Mystery bird: Spot-breasted plover, Vanellus melanocephalus
“Spot-breasted plover, Vanellus melanocephalus (formerly, Tylibyx melanocephalus and Hoplopterus melanocephalus; protonym, Lobivanellus melanocephalus), also known as the spot-breasted lapwing, photographed at Bale Mountains (also known as the Urgoma Mountains), Ethiopia (Africa).”
The Guardian: Mystery bird: Spot-breasted plover, Vanellus melanocephalus
“The lapwing soaring blunt-winged over a plowed field and calling out his sharp whistle means nothing to me, for everything means nothing to me.”
“This coincides with the recent northern expansion of other wet-grassland waders, such as the common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) in the Bolshemelzkaya tundra [14], the black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa), and the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) in northern Russia concomitant with a northward expansion of agriculture including sown meadows [15].”
Recent and projected changes in arctic species distributions and potential ranges
“The Gudo plains, west of Addis Ababa, is a particularly important conservation area for the spot-breasted lapwing (Vanellus melanocephalus), which is endemic to the Ethiopian highlands.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘lapwing’.
-
birds
birds with singular names from
at least 9 English dictionariesaasvogel, aberdevine, accentor, accipiter, aepyornis, agami, albatross, alcatras, alcid, alcidine, amadavat, amokura and 1056 more...
-
More Bird Wirds: North America
Birds endemic to the United States and/or North America.
toucan, peacock, weaver, bullfinch, redpoll, siskin, crossbill, finch, rosy-finch, oriole, cowbird, blackbird and 213 more...
-
♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
-
ulyssean
... as in "by James Joyce"
stately, plump, aloft, gurgling, untonsured, chrysostomos, jowl, parapet, jesuit, indigestion, scutter, noserag and 688 more...
-
sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
-
How do you like Kipling?
Words which fit the joke format: "How do you like X-in(g)? I don't know, I've never X-ed".
kipling, duckling, fingerling, groundling, chickling, chitterling, changeling, gosling, yearling, hireling, inkling, quisling and 98 more...
-
Hedgepiglet
Words for things both tangible and nonanthropic
rorqual, vellus, wrasse, rainbow bee-eater, tinkershire, lemonquat, boomslang, tufted vetch, cubeb, nipplefruit, madapple, wad and 447 more...
-
2008 Wordlist
Hopefully, I'll be using this site for more than one year. It will be fun then to look back and see what new words I found worthy of notice in any given year.
All words spotted in 2008...longanimity, permalancer, breeder, biodegradable, handicapable, gender-neutral, translator, interpreter, translation, interpreting, kleptocracy, fanfiction and 1598 more...
-
Permutations
There are 17576 different sequences of three letters (26 x 26 x 26). How many of them occur in words? General rules of engagement: mononyms only, lower case preferred to upper case, short preferred...
aaargh, niqaabi, Isaac, raad, baaed, haaf, laager, aah, kamaaina, Naajaat, aak, aalii and 637 more...
-
the blood jet is poetry
A selection of frequent or favourite words from Sylvia Plath's Collected Poems, as part of my bid to read them all. Quotes can be found on each citation page.
whiteness, zen, dryad, rook, tulip, kindness, troublous, portico, prospect, blight, havoc, millrace and 62 more...
-
birdie
bird names that are fun to say
coot, grackle, hoatzin, jay, barnacle goose, skua, rook, grosbeak, junco, chickadee, waxwing, nuthatch and 49 more...
-
on the wing
Tweets
Looking for tweets for lapwing.
ofravens He names a lapwing, starts rabbits in a rout
legging it most nimble
to sprigged hedge of bramble,
stalks red fox, shrewd stoat.
from "Ode for Ted," Sylvia Plath Apr 14, 2008