Sandpiper definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (60)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

noun Any of various small wading birds of the family Scolopacidae, usually having a long straight sensitive bill with which it picks up insects, worms, and soft mollusks in mud and sand.

Century Dictionary (57)

A small wading bird that runs along the sand and utters a piping note; a sand-lark, sand-plover, or sand-snipe. Technically— A bird of the family Scolopacidæ, subfamily Scolopacinæ, and section Tringeæ, of which there are about 20 species, of all parts of the world. They have the bill like a true snipe's in its sensitiveness and constricted gape, but it is little if any longer than the head, straight or scarcely decurved, and the tail lacks the cross-bars of that of most snipes and tattlers. The toes are four in number (excepting Calidris), and cleft to the base (excepting Micropalama and Ereunetes). The sandpipers belong especially to the northern hemisphere and mostly breed in high latitudes; but they perform the most extensive migrations, and in winter are generally dispersed over the world. The sexes are alike in plumage, but the seasonal changes of plumage are very great. The sandpipers are probably without exception gregarious, and often fleck the beaches in flocks of hundreds or thousands. They live preferably in open wet sandy places, not in swamps and fens, and feed by probing with their sensitive bills, like snipes. Among them are the most diminutive of waders, as the tiny sandpipers of the genus Actodromas called stints. The semipalmated sandpiper is no larger, but has basal webs; it is Ereunetes pusillus of America. The spoon-billed sandpiper, Eurynorhynchus pygmæus, is another diminutive bird, of Asia and arctic America. The stilt-sandpiper has long legs and semi-palmated feet; it is Micropalama himantopus. The broad-billed sandpiper is Limicola pygmæa or platyrhyncha, not found in America. The pectoral sandpiper, or grass-snipe, is Actodromas maculata, a characteristic American species of comparatively large size. Dunlins or purres are sandpipers of the genus Pelidna. The curlew-sandpiper is Ancylochilus subarquatus. The purple sandpipers are several species of Arquatella, as A. maritima. The knot, canute, red or red-breasted, or ash-colored sandpiper, or robin-snipe, is Tringa canutus. A bird of the same family and subfamily as the foregoing, but of the section Totaneæ, or tattlers, several but not all of which are also known as sandpipers, because they used to be put in the old genus Tringa. The common sandpiper of Europe, etc., is Tringoides or Actitis hypoleucus, of which the common peetweet or spotted sandpiper of the United States, T. macularius, is a close ally. Green sandpipers belong to the genus Rhyacophilus, as R. ochropus of Europe and R. solitarius of America. The wood-sandpiper of Europe is Totanus glareola. The fighting sandpiper is the ruff, Machetes or Pavoncella pugnax. The buff-breasted sandpiper is a peculiar American species, Tryngites rufescens or subruficollis. The Bartramian sandpiper is Bartramia longicauda or Actiturus bartramius of America. See the technical and special names, and cuts under Bartramia, dunlin, Ereunetes, Eurynorhynchus, Micropalama, Rhyacophilus, ruff, sanderling, stint, Tringa, Tringoides, and Tryngites.
A fish, the pride.
Aberdeen sandpiper. Same as aberdeen.

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An urchin, barefoot, was pottering round in silence, like a sandpiper. — Lawrence - Kangaroo
The calls were clearly those of a sandpiper, not usually found near greenhouses. — timesofmalta.com
It is the most common wader of the north, the fjaerplyt of the walrus-hunters, the purple sandpiper (_Tringa maritima_, Brünn.). — The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II
The singular spoon-billed sandpiper was at one time in spring so common that it was twice served at the gunroom table, for which after our return home we had to endure severe reproaches from animal collectors. — The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II
How is he Jolly as a sandpiper. — Teddy: Her Book A Story of Sweet Sixteen

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