thick-knee

[ thik-nee ]

noun

1. any of several crepuscular or nocturnal wading birds of the family Burhinidae, of the Old World and tropical America, having a thickened joint between the femoral and tibiotarsal bones.

thick-knee

noun

1. another name for stone curlew

Word History and Origins

Origin of thick-knee¹

First recorded in 1810–20

Word History and Origins

Origin of thick-knee¹

C19: so called because it has thick knee joints

Example Sentences

Its residents include the threatened Egyptian fruit bat, the bee orchid and the Eurasian Thick-knee, a dwindling species of shorebird also known as a stone-curlew.

From Seattle Times

Its residents include the threatened Egyptian fruit bat, the bee orchid and the Eurasian Thick-knee, a dwindling species of shorebird also known as a stone-curlew.

From Washington Times

The curlew of inlanders, or stone-curlew—called also, by some writers, from its stronghold in England, the Norfolk plover, and sometimes the thick-knee—is usually classed among the Charadriidae, but it offers several remarkable differences from the more normal plovers.

From Project Gutenberg

The bill is short, blunt, and stout; the head large, broad, and flat at the top; the wings and legs long—the latter presenting the peculiarity of a singular enlargement of the upper part of the tarsus, whence the names Oedicnemus and Thick-knee have been conferred.

From Project Gutenberg

It is also called Thick-knee, from the robust conformation of this joint; and Stone Curlew, from its frequenting waste stony places and uttering a note which has been compared to the sound of the syllables curlui or turlui.

From Project Gutenberg