black-bellied plover

[ blak-bel-eed ]

noun

1. a large plover, Pluvialis squatarola, of both the New and Old Worlds, having black underparts when in nuptial plumage.

Word History and Origins

Origin of black-bellied plover¹

An Americanism dating back to 1805–15

Example Sentences

The largest of the family Charadridæ is the black-bellied plover.

From Project Gutenberg

The black-bellied plover is reasonably common along the coast line, but it is not seen to any great extent in the interior valleys.

From Project Gutenberg

But as the afternoon wears on and the water retreats, a crowd of little birds arrives to feast in the shallows: short-billed dowitchers, Western sandpipers, a black-bellied plover.

From Time

On Isle Grand Terre, LSU researcher Richard Gibbons saw a black-bellied plover, a skinny-legged shorebird, with oil on its face.

From Washington Post

It is a birders' ecstasy for a few minutes�a blue-winged teal, a pectoral sandpiper, a black-bellied plover.

From Time Magazine Archive