curlew sandpiper

3 definitions found

curlew sandpiper - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Sandpiper \Sand"pi`per\, n.
     1. (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of small limicoline
        game birds belonging to Tringa, Actodromas,
        Ereunetes, and various allied genera of the family
        Tringidae.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The most important North American species are the
           pectoral sandpiper (Tringa maculata), called also
           brownback, grass snipe, and jacksnipe; the
           red-backed, or black-breasted, sandpiper, or dunlin
           (Tringa alpina); the purple sandpiper (Tringa maritima
           : the red-breasted sandpiper, or knot (Tringa canutus
           ); the semipalmated sandpiper (Ereunetes pusillus
           ); the spotted sandpiper, or teeter-tail
           (Actitis macularia); the buff-breasted sandpiper
           (Tryngites subruficollis), and the Bartramian
           sandpiper, or upland plover. See under Upland. Among
           the European species are the dunlin, the knot, the
           ruff, the sanderling, and the common sandpiper
           (Actitis hypoleucus syn. Tringoides hypoleucus),
           called also fiddler, peeper, pleeps, weet-weet,
           and summer snipe. Some of the small plovers and
           tattlers are also called sandpipers.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Zool.) A small lamprey eel; the pride.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Curlew sandpiper. See under Curlew.
  
     Stilt sandpiper. See under Stilt.
        [1913 Webster]

  Curlew \Cur"lew\ (k[^u]r"l[=u]), n. [F. courlieu, corlieu,
     courlis; perh. of imitative origin, but cf. OF. corlieus
     courier; L. currere to run + levis light.] (Zool.)
     A wading bird of the genus Numenius, remarkable for its
     long, slender, curved bill.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The common European curlew is Numenius arquatus. The
           long-billed (Numenius longirostris), the Hudsonian
           (Numenius Hudsonicus), and the Eskimo curlew
           (Numenius borealis, are American species. The name is
           said to imitate the note of the European species.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     Curlew Jack (Zool.) the whimbrel or lesser curlew.
  
     Curlew sandpiper (Zool.), a sandpiper (Tringa ferruginea
        or Tringa subarquata), common in Europe, rare in
        America, resembling a curlew in having a long, curved
        bill. See Illustation in Appendix.
        [1913 Webster]

curlew sandpiper - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  curlew sandpiper
      n 1: Old World sandpiper with a curved bill like a curlew [syn:
           curlew sandpiper, Calidris Ferruginea]