lapwing — English Dictionary

Noun

1. Any of several medium-sized wading birds belonging to the subfamily Vanellinae, within family Charadriidae.

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   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.

   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.

   Lapwings are abundant winter visitors to the area but, like the Golden Plovers, vary greatly in number between years.

2. Any of several medium-sized wading birds belonging to the subfamily Vanellinae, within family Charadriidae. The northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).

3. A silly man.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.

Noun

1. large crested Old World plover having wattles and spurs

   Synonyms

   green ploverpeewitpewit

   Broader terms

   plover