Lapwing
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈlæpwɪŋ/
Origin
From Old English hlēapewince, from hlēapan ("to leap") + *winc- ("sway, totter") (because of its manner of flight). The modern form is influenced by popular etymology.
Full definition of lapwing
Noun
lapwing
(plural lapwings)- 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.
- A silly man.
- 1602, William Shakespeare, , Act V Scene 2,This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.