killdeer
[kil-deer]
- an American plover, Charadrius vociferus, having two black bands around the upper breast.
Show More
Origin of killdeer
An Americanism dating back to 1725–35; imitative
Also called killdeer plover.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for killdeer
Historical Examples of killdeer
What impressed me was that I had never seen a killdeer act in this way before.
In Pastures GreenPeter McArthur
Autumn came and went, and with it the killdeer and their young.
Of these the killdeer plover is the most common and the best known.
Game Birds and Game Fishes of the Pacific CoastHarry Thom Payne
The Killdeer is so called on account of the cry which it utters; it resembles "kill-dee, kill-dee."
Endurance TestAlan Douglas
He tore away the ribbon, and knotted it to the stock of Killdeer, which had been the gift of the girl herself.
The DeerslayerJames Fenimore Cooper
killdeer
- a large brown-and-white North American plover, Charadrius vociferus, with two black breast bands and a noisy cry
Show More
Word Origin for killdeer
C18: of imitative 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
Word Origin and History for killdeer
also killdee, 1731, American English, species of North American ring-plover, the name imitative of its cry.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper