lapwing

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English[edit]

A lapwing
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Etymology[edit]

From Middle English lapwynge, lapwynke, lappewincke, lapwynche, lhapwynche, from Old English hlēapewince (“lapwing”), from Old English hlēapan (“to leap”) + wincian (“to wink, make a sign”), due to its manner of flight. Cognate with West Frisian ljip (“lapwing”).

The modern form is influenced by folk etymology to resemble English wing.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

lapwing (plural lapwings)

  1. Any of several medium-sized wading birds belonging to the subfamily Vanellinae, within family Charadriidae.
    • 1986, Steven L. Hilty, Bill Brown, A Guide to the Birds of Colombia, page 149:
      Plovers and lapwings are a large, virtually worldwide family that differs from sandpipers in, among other things, having a shorter, thicker, pigeonlike bill and more robust proportions.
    • 2010, Des Thompson, Ingvar Byrkjedal, Tundra Plovers, page 36:
      The resident tropical plovers have much less pointed wings, and most of the lapwings have fairly rounded wing-tips, a wing shape apparently more adapted to aerial manoeuvrability than to long-distance migration.
    • 2010, Clive Finlayson, Birds of the Strait of Gibraltar, page 244:
      Lapwings are abundant winter visitors to the area but, like the Golden Plovers, vary greatly in number between years.
    1. The northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).
  2. A silly man.

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