avocet

[av-uh-set]

noun

any of several long-legged, web-footed shorebirds constituting the genus Recurvirostra, having a long, slender, upward-curving bill.

Origin of avocet

1760–70; < French avocette, probably erroneous spelling for New Latin avosetta < Italian < Upper Italian (< Venetian)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for avocet

Historical Examples of avocet

Witness the experience of the Avocet on her voyage from Rotterdam.
The Fleets Behind the Fleet
W. MacNeile (William MacNeile) Dixon
The Australian Avocet is one species of a cosmopolitan genus.
An Australian Bird Book
John Albert Leach
The American avocet breeds from Washington southward and spends its winters from central California south.
Game Birds and Game Fishes of the Pacific Coast
Harry Thom Payne
The Avocet's bill is sharply curved upwards, and is one of the most remarkable of such organs.
An Australian Bird Book
John Albert Leach
The web-footed birds are either long-legged, as the flamingo and avocet, or furnished with short legs.
Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnus
William MacGillivray

British Dictionary definitions for avocet

avocet

noun

any of several long-legged shore birds of the genus Recurvirostra, such as the European R. avosetta, having black-and-white plumage and a long upward-curving bill: family Recurvirostridae, order Charadriiformes

Word Origin for avocet

C18: from French avocette, from Italian avocetta, of uncertain origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012