curlew

English

Long-billed curlew (Numenius americanus)

Etymology

From Middle English curlew, from Old French courlieu (see French courlis), claimed to be imitative of the bird's cry but apparently assimilated with dialectal *corliu (“runner, messenger”), a variant of coureur (the bird is adept at running).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɜːlju/, /ˈkɜːlu/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɝlu/

Noun

curlew (plural curlews)

1. Any of several migratory wading birds in the genus Numenius, remarkable for their long, slender, downcurved bills.
   • a. 1881, Oscar Wilde, 'The Garden of Eros', in Poems‎^[1]:

     The corncrake nested in the unmown field
     Answers its mate, across the misty stream
     On fitful wing the startled curlews fly,
     And in his sedgy bed the lark, for joy that Day is nigh [...]

2. (Australia) A stone curlew (Burhinidae spp.).
   • 1902, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Bush Studies (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 16:

     That quivering wail from the billabong lying murkily mystic towards the East was only the cry of the fearing curlew.

Derived terms

• beach stone-curlew
• bristle-thighed curlew (Numenius tahitiensis)
• bush stone-curlew
• curlewlike
• eastern curlew (Numenius madagascariensis)
• Eskimo curlew (Numenius borealis)
• Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata)
• Eurasian stone-curlew
• great stone-curlew
• Hudsonian curlew
• little curlew (Numenius minutus)
• long-billed curlew (Numenius americanus)
• northern curlew
• slender-billed curlew (Numenius tenuirostris)
• stone-curlew

Translations

migratory wading bird

• Albanian: kojlik (sq) m, kllinzë (sq) f
• Arabic: كَرَوَان m (karawān)

  Egyptian Arabic: كروان m (karawan)

• Asturian: algaraván (ast), zarapicu (ast)
• Catalan: becut m, polit (ca) m
• Czech: koliha (cs) f
• Dutch: wulp (nl)
• Esperanto: kurlo, numenio
• Estonian: koovitaja
• Finnish: kuovi (fi)
• French: courlis (fr) m
• Galician: mazarico m
• German: Brachvogel m
• Greek: νουμήνιος m (noumínios), τουρλί n (tourlí) (colloquial), τουρλίδα (el) f (tourlída)
• Hebrew: חֶרְמְשׁוֹן
• Hungarian: póling (hu)
• Ingrian: sookulikka, vihmakulli, vesikulli
• Irish: crotach m, cuirliún m
• Italian: chiurlo (it) m
• Latvian: kuitila
• Lithuanian: kuolinga (lt)
• Navajo: daakʼį́į́ʼ
• Norman: couorlieu m
• Nyunga: weerlow
• Polish: kulik (pl) m anim, kulig (pl) m anim
• Portuguese: maçarico (pt) m
• Romanian: corlă (ro) f, găinușă-de-baltă (ro) f
• Russian: кроншне́п (ru) m (kronšnép)
• Scots: whaup
• Scottish Gaelic: guilbneach m
• Spanish: zarapito (es) m
• Swahili: membe (sw)
• Turkish: kervan çulluğu
• Venetan: arcasa f
• Welsh: gylfinir m

See also

• curlew sandpiper
• stone curlew

References

• “curlew”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• curlew on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Numenius on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Numenius on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Middle English

Alternative forms

• curlewe, curlue, curlu, curlowe, curleeu, corlew, corlewe, corlue, kurlu, kurlew

Etymology

From Old French courlieu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kurˈliu̯/, /ˈkurliu̯/

Noun

curlew (plural curlewes)

1. curlew
2. quail

Descendants

• English: curlew

References

• “curleu, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 9 March 2019.