killdeer
See also: kill-deer
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Imitative of the bird's call.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GenAm" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈkɪldɪɹ/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈkɪldɪə/
Noun
killdeer (plural killdeers or killdeer)
- A North American plover (Charadrius vociferus) with a distinctive cry and territorial behavior that includes feigning injury to distract interlopers from the nest.
- 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger Poeple's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 50:
- A kill-deer, flying so low as to dip its wings, ever and anon alighted on the margin, its stilt-like legs half submerged as it ran hither and thither, now and then bending to dig in the sand with its long slender bill.
- 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger Poeple's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 50:
Translations
plover
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