Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

pewit

or pee·wit

[pee-wit, pyoo-it]
noun
  1. the lapwing, Vanellus vanellus.
  2. the phoebe.
Show More

Origin of pewit

First recorded in 1520–30; imitative
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for pewit

Historical Examples of pewit

  • Marjory was very anxious that Blanche should see a pewit's nest.

    Hunter's Marjory

    Margaret Bruce Clarke

  • One of the first birds I saw, and one of the most puzzling, was the lapwing or pewit.

    Fresh Fields

    John Burroughs

  • It is unmistakably spring, because the pewit bushes are budding and on yonder aspen we can hear a forsythia bursting into song.

  • When its eggs are laid, the pewit will fight fiercely with any other of its species which comes too near it.

    Mamma's Stories about Birds

    Anonymous (AKA the author of "Chickseed without Chickweed")

  • Now and then I caught the cry of a pewit, or saw a snipe glance up from his bed; but mainly I was busied about the mare.

    The Splendid Spur

    Arthur T. Quiller Couch

British Dictionary definitions for pewit

pewit

noun
  1. another name for lapwing
Show More

Word Origin for pewit

C13: imitative of the bird's cry
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 pewit

n.

"lapwing" (still the usual name for it in Scotland), 1520s, imitative of its cry (cf. Flemish piewit-voghel, Middle Low German kivit, German kiwitz; also see kibitz).

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper