lapwing

[ lap-wing ]

noun
  1. a large Old World plover, Vanellus vanellus, having a long, slender, upcurved crest, an erratic, flapping flight, and a shrill cry.

  2. any of several similar, related plovers.

Origin of lapwing

1
before 1050; Middle English, variant (by association with wing) of lapwinke,Old English hlēapwince plover. See leap, wink1

Words Nearby lapwing

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use lapwing in a sentence

  • And cf. 'to seem the lapwing and to jest, Tongue far from heart'; Meas.

  • A low call came from a brooding curlew, a faint sigh from a plover, and the wild rasping cry of a lapwing greeted them overhead.

    The Underworld | James C. Welsh
  • And here is a moorcock's; and this—I should know it among a thousand—it's a lapwing's.

    Emily Bront | A. Mary F. (Agnes Mary Frances) Robinson
  • I made him promise he'd never shoot a lapwing after that, and he didn't.

    Emily Bront | A. Mary F. (Agnes Mary Frances) Robinson
  • It was sometimes represented as a crane, at others as a lapwing.

    Scarabs | Isaac Myer

British Dictionary definitions for lapwing

lapwing

/ (ˈlæpˌwɪŋ) /


noun
  1. any of several plovers of the genus Vanellus, esp V. vanellus, typically having a crested head, wattles, and spurs: Also called: green plover, pewit, peewit

Origin of lapwing

1
C17: altered form of Old English hlēapewince plover, from hlēapan to leap + wincian to jerk, wink 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012