Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A large brownish wading bird (Aramus guarauna) of warm, swampy regions of Florida, the Caribbean islands, and Central and South America, having long legs, a curved bill, and a distinctive wailing call.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A local (Florida) name of the crying-bird or courlan, Aramus giganteus. See courlan, Aramus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) Either one of two species of wading birds of the genus Aramus, intermediate between the cranes and rails. The limpkins are remarkable for the great length of the toes. One species (Aramus giganteus) inhabits Florida and the West Indies; the other (Aramus scolopaceus) is found in South America. Called also courlan, and crying bird.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A large bird, Aramus guarauna, found in marshes in the Caribbean, Central America and southern Florida.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun wading bird of Florida, Cuba and Jamaica having a drooping bill and a distinctive wailing call

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From its halting gait.]

Support

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Examples

  • I see a limpkin and a wood stork — not birds you see every day, even in the backcountry of Florida.

    The Thistle and the Bee Shoumatoff, Alex 2008

  • The limpkin, a rare wading bird with a dagger beak, stalks the edges of the Little River and park lake.

    ajc.com - News 2009

  • The limpkin, a rare wading bird with a dagger beak, stalks the edges of the Little River and park lake.

    ajc.com - News 2009

Comments

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  • Wading bird of Florida, Cuba, and Jamaica having a drooping bill and a distinctive wailing call

    June 4, 2007

  • OMG adorable word! I am SO adopting that for my next online username!

    June 5, 2007

  • This is as good a place as any to ask... what's your current username mean? Are you a fan of the restaurant? I've been wondering. :-D

    June 5, 2007

  • The bird itself is a bit odd-looking, though, arby. Looks like a cross between a crane and an ibis. Very interesting creature. :-)

    June 5, 2007

  • uselessness - no, it's a phonetic spelling of my first and middle initials - R.B. Although I bet people think I have a weird fixation with the restaurant. For some reason though to me the capitalization of "Arby's" makes a huge difference - not to mention the possessive.

    reesetee - link! link! link!

    June 21, 2007

  • Oops--I *meant* to add a link. Here you go.

    BTW, the name comes from the bird's walk--looks as though it's limping a bit. :-)

    June 21, 2007

  • Funny, did you know the restaurant name is also a phonetic spelling of R.B., for "Raffel Brothers," the siblings who started the company? It's also used as the abbreviation for "roast beef," the place's main product, though that was not the original intention of the name.

    June 21, 2007

  • ha ha uselessness, I love it!!

    reesetee - it's cuter than ever, poor little limpkin. BTW what's the story behind reesetee anyway? I always think of Reese's PB cups (which the Southern members of my family pronounce "Reecie's") when I see it.

    June 23, 2007

  • You're on the right track, arby. I hail from where Reese's PB cups are made--actually worked at the PB cup factory during summers when I was in college. The "tee" part comes from the first initial of my first name. :-)

    June 23, 2007

  • reesetee, how funny! I love Reecie's PB cups.

    June 23, 2007

  • No, no! Not "Reecie's" but "Reese's." Otherwise you'll be run out of town. ;-)

    June 24, 2007

  • Reese's Pieces transcend M&Ms in such a manner as to make them almost obsolete.

    June 25, 2007

  • Ah, another satisfied customer. ;-)

    June 25, 2007

  • I love Reese's as much as the next guy, but that's just blasphemy.

    June 25, 2007

  • I'm disappointed. I thought reseetee was an exotic East Indian or Pakistani name. I envisioned you as a wise man looking strikingly similiar to Ghandi.

    June 25, 2007

  • I'd always assumed that your first name was Reese!

    (I'm with seanahan here. Reese's Pieces are amazing.)

    June 25, 2007

  • Oh, rats. I've completely destroyed my Wordie Mystique.

    Jennarenn, I sometimes go by the nickname "Reese," if that's any consolation. Palooka, I look absolutely nothing like Gandhi. Trust me on this. And I'm not too sure about the wise part, either. ;-)

    June 25, 2007

  • As an aside, it would be interesting to see what each of us thinks the others look like, and the other personality traits concealed by the text-only design of Wordie. But yeah, that kind of exercise would completely destroy everybody's Wordie Mystique. And I'm not so sure I'm ready to give mine up.

    June 25, 2007

  • I usually end up being pretty far off the mark. :-) But in cases where Wordies also post, blog, etc., elsewhere online, it's not difficult to see what people look like, at least (personality traits aside).

    June 25, 2007

  • You mean you're stalking us on other sites? Creep!! ;-)

    June 25, 2007

  • U, check your profile....Remember you issued an invitation? :-)

    June 25, 2007

  • And by the way...PB cups, yes. Reese's Pieces--too sweet for my taste.

    June 25, 2007

  • I know, I was just kidding. Though it's kinda weird to think there are people reading my blog that I don't know about. I fool myself into thinking I know exactly who stops by all the time.

    June 25, 2007

  • Sure, I knew you were--and anyway, I think I've only been able to stop by once, so don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. ;-)

    June 25, 2007

  • Sorry reseetee - I had second thoughts & deleted my comment

    June 26, 2007

  • Understood. Ditto. :-)

    June 26, 2007

  • reesetee - I said that on purpose, 'cause now that's how I hear it in my head. I know it's wrong.

    Also, uselessness, if you have Livejournal check out ljtoys.

    June 27, 2007

  • Got it, arby. I was just kidding around. :-)

    June 27, 2007

  • Thanks for the link, arby (actually it's .org.uk, but I found it)! I have a LiveJournal account but all my blogging is hosted on my own server... which is nice because I get detailed server logs that could tell me everything I'd ever want to know, if I bothered to look at them. ;-)

    June 27, 2007

  • I feel totally left out. I could have been in on this gigantic word-jacking and I missed it all.

    Uselessness, I need to stalk you on other sites.

    Reesetee looks like Gandhi?! HA HA HA HA!!!! BLAHAHAHHAHAHAAH!!!! BLAHAHAHAHA!!! I'm gonna call Reesetee Gandhi now. Just to be an ass.

    Everyone has cute usernames but me. Sigh.

    June 29, 2007

  • chained_bear isn't a cute name? I kind of thought it was. I have an enigmatic photo of a chained bobcat, and I always think of that. I also wonder how and why.

    June 29, 2007

  • Oh, chained_bear is much more creative than jennarenn. (I never have quite given up the hope of changing to jentacular.)

    June 29, 2007

  • Chained_bear, if you start calling me Gandhi, you will henceforth and forever be Wayne Newton.

    June 30, 2007

  • I have a distinctive wailing call. Am I a limpkin? Or did I just misplace my freaking house keys?!

    December 8, 2007

  • Depends. Is your bill drooping?

    December 9, 2007

  • No, all my bills are increasing. I think must be a debtkin.

    December 9, 2007

  • Wayne Newton? Danke Schoen, reesetee, Danke Schoen.

    October 19, 2011

  • jennarenn, slumry, uselessness, palooka, arby, seanahan ... some classic Wordies on this page.

    October 19, 2011

  • The third visual on this page is not a limpkin. It is a wood stork, the largest member of the ibis family in N.A. Nicknames of the wood stork include ironhead, flinthead, preacher, Spanish buzzard, and gourdhead.

    October 19, 2011