Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several brownish, long-legged shorebirds of the genus Numenius, having long, slender, downward-curving bills.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A bird of the genus Numenius.
- noun A name of several grallatorial birds with slender decurved bill, not of the genus Numenius.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A wading bird of the genus Numenius, remarkable for its long, slender, curved bill.
- noun (Zoöl.) the whimbrel or lesser curlew.
- noun (Zoöl.) a sandpiper (
Tringa ferruginea orTringa subarquata ), common in Europe, rare in America, resembling a curlew in having a long, curved bill. SeeIllustation in Appendix.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of several
migratory wading birds in thegenus Numenius of the familyScolopacidae , remarkable for their long, slender, downcurvedbills .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun large migratory shorebirds of the sandpiper family; closely related to woodcocks but having a down-curved bill
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The screaming of the curlew is faintly heard even at this distancehe continues to ascend, and the hawk persevere's in her spiral motion, until she has gain'd the upper flight, then hovering makes a pounce swift as lightening on the exhausted curlew, and closing her wings both fall together, until within thirty or forty yards of the ground, when opening them she is by the resisting air brought upper:
Sporting Sketches 2002
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Except these, the plover and the curlew are the only inhabitants until you come to the Chesterfield high road.
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Except these, the plover and the curlew are the only inhabitants until you come to the Chesterfield high road.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1894
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The curlew is the most conspicuous; indeed its loud, incessant clamor, its erect carriage, and the intense curiosity which possesses it, and which makes it come up to circle around any strange object, all combine to make it in springtime one of the most conspicuous features of plains life.
II. Waferfowl 1885
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We saw in the plains vast quantities of buffaloe, a number of small birds, and the large brown curlew, which is now sitting, and lays its eggs, which are of a pale blue with black-specks, on the ground without any nest.
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The curlew is a bird my father used to see a lot but these days not so much, we occasionally see small flocks near home now - they seem common here which makes me happy.
Earth, Wind & Water 2009
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Normally I would hop on a bus to get me back home, but this time I decide I'd walk, up the hills and down the valleys one day I'll get lucky (or buy the right equipment) The curlew is a bird that has captured my imagination since I was a child, we used to travel by bus each Thursday afternoon (along the road in the second picture) to school swimming lessons and from the bus I could see the curlews with their scythe like beaks striding through the rough pasture, they seemed very exotic to me.
Uphilldowndale 2009
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There are vast quantities of prickly pears, and myriads of grasshoppers, which afford food for a species of curlew which is in great numbers in the plain.
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The mangrove forest of the Rufiji Delta is any important site for migratory wetland birds, such as curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea), little stint (Calidris minuta), crab plover (Dromas ardeola), roseate tern (Sterna dougallii) and Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia).
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Such ancient grassland might have 30 species of plant in a single square metre and innumerable invertebrate animals which have supported such remarkable birds as the stone curlew and many skylarks.
chained_bear commented on the word curlew
A grallatorial bird of the genus Numenius (family Scolopacidae), with a long slender curved bill; esp. the common European species N. arquatus (called in Scotland whaup).
Have you ever walked the lonesome hills
And heard the curlews cry
Or seen the raven black as night
Upon a windswept sky
--"Young Ned of the Hill," the Pogues, c. 1989 Terry Woods & Ron Kavana
February 7, 2007
john commented on the word curlew
A confederate navy gunboat, according to Wikipedia.
February 27, 2008
reesetee commented on the word curlew
No kidding? And here I've always believed it was just a bird. ;-) Thanks, John!
February 27, 2008
milosrdenstvi commented on the word curlew
The sea is flecked with bars of gray,
The dull dead wind is out of tune,
And like a withered leaf the moon
Is blown across the stormy bay.
Etched clear upon the pallid sand
The black boat lies: a sailor boy
Clambers aboard in careless joy
With laughing face and gleaming hand.
And overhead the curlews cry,
Where through the dusky upland grass
The young brown-throated reapers pass,
Like silhouettes against the sky.
-- Oscar Wilde
January 28, 2010