Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The popular name of a kind of plover, Ægialites or Eudromias morinellus, abundant in Europe and Asia.
- noun Hence A booby; a dupe; a gull.
- noun An aged, decaying tree: same as
dotard , 3: also used attributively.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A European bird of the Plover family (
Eudromias morinellus , syn.Charadrius morinellus ). It is tame and easily taken, and is popularly believed to imitate the movements of the fowler. - noun A silly fellow; a dupe; a gull.
- adjective obsolete, obsolete Decayed.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A name given to various small
birds in theplover familyCharadriidae , and sometimes used interchangeably with "plover". - noun A
gullible fool .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun rare plover of upland areas of Eurasia
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Volunteer beach clean-ups were cancelled earlier on Tuesday due to the weather and the fact that the beaches were virtually clear of oil, but work continues to protect wildlife in the area, particularly the dotterel, an endangered New Zealand bird.
New Zealand Ship Spills More Oil Lucy Craymer 2011
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Notable bird species composition includes snowcock (Tetragallus altaicus) and dotterel (Eudromias morinellus).
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River bed invertebrates support a diverse birdlife including wrybill Anarhynchus frontalis, paradise shelduck Tadorna variegata, black-billed gull, black-fronted tern Sterna albistriata and banded dotterel Pluvialis obscura.
Te Wahipounamu (South-West New Zealand World Heritage Area), New Zealand 2008
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Banded dotterel Charadrius bicinctus and New Zealand falcon Falco novaezeelandiaeare also present.
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Several migratory wader species are regular visitors to the island, principally are double-banded dotterel Charadrius bicinctus, eastern golden plover Pluvialis dominica, turnstone Arenaria interpres, whimbrel Numenius phaeopus and bar-tailed godwit Limosa lapponica.
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Up to 74 shorebird species have been sighted here, with a peak of 40,000 migratory birds utilizing the Firth at one time, including the New Zealand dotterel (Charadrius obscurus VU) and more than half of New Zealand's wrybill population.
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Such are the dotterel (Eudromias morinellus), several species of phalarope, an
Darwinism (1889) Alfred Russel Wallace 1868
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It has even been put forward that the colours of their eggs are intended to deceive; and those of the dotterel, laid on the open beach, are often mentioned as an instance.
Field and Hedgerow Being the Last Essays of Richard Jefferies Richard Jefferies 1867
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Here are, amongst others, the beautiful golden-ringed and dotterel plovers of Europe, and the
How to See the British Museum in Four Visits W. Blanchard Jerrold 1855
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As we pursued our journey homewards on the following day, we passed several flights of dotterel making to the south, this being the first migration we had observed in that direction.
Expedition into Central Australia Charles Sturt 1832
she commented on the word dotterel
Or, a silly person (gilly-gaupus, gawpus, chrisom)
July 9, 2008