curlew

cur·lew

C0814200 (kûrl′yo͞o, kûr′lo͞o)n. Any of several brownish, long-legged shorebirds of the genus Numenius, having long, slender, downward-curving bills.

[Middle English curleu, from Old French courlieu, perhaps of imitative origin.]

curlew

(ˈkɜːljuː) n (Animals) any large shore bird of the genus Numenius, such as N. arquata of Europe and Asia: family Scolopacidae (sandpipers, etc), order Charadriiformes. They have a long downward-curving bill and occur in northern and arctic regions. Compare stone curlew[C14: from Old French corlieu, perhaps of imitative origin]

cur•lew

(ˈkɜr lu)

n. any of several large shorebirds of the genus Numenius, having a long, slender bill that curves down. [1300–50; Middle English < Anglo-French curleu, c. Middle French corleu; perhaps imitative]

Thesaurus

Noun

curlew - large migratory shorebirds of the sandpiper family; closely related to woodcocks but having a down-curved billlimicoline bird, shore bird, shorebird - any of numerous wading birds that frequent mostly seashores and estuariesgenus Numenius, Numenius - curlewsEuropean curlew, Numenius arquata - common Eurasian curlewEskimo curlew, Numenius borealis - New World curlew that breeds in northern North America

curlew

nounRelated words
collective noun herd

Translations

courlischiurlo

curlew

(kûr`lo͞o), common name for large shore birds of both hemispheres, generally brown and buff in color and with decurved bills. There are eight species, belonging to the genus Numenius. The long-billed curlew, N. americanus, its bill almost one third the body length (about 2 ft/61 cm), is now rare in the E United States; it frequents salt marshes, prairies, and tidal creeks in the West. In summer it eats locusts and other injurious insects. The Hudsonian and the nearly extinct Eskimo curlews migrate from arctic breeding grounds to South America. The bristle-thighed curlew summers and nests in Alaska and winters on South Pacific islands, where it feeds on the eggs of other birds. The curlew makes a nonstop flight between breeding grounds. Some of the godwits and ibises are called curlews. Curlews are classified in the phylum ChordataChordata
, phylum of animals having a notochord, or dorsal stiffening rod, as the chief internal skeletal support at some stage of their development. Most chordates are vertebrates (animals with backbones), but the phylum also includes some small marine invertebrate animals.
..... Click the link for more information. , subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Charadriiformes, family Scolopacidae.

curlew

any large shore bird of the genus Numenius, such as N. arquata of Europe and Asia: family Scolopacidae (sandpipers, etc.), order Charadriiformes. They have a long downward-curving bill and occur in northern and arctic regions.

curlew

cur·lew

curlew

cur•lew

curlew

curlew

curlew

curlew

curlew

Words related to curlew

noun large migratory shorebirds of the sandpiper family

Related Words