stone curlew

Save This Word!

noun

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of stone curlew

First recorded in 1670–80

Words nearby stone curlew

stone china, stone-cold, stone crab, stonecrop, stonecrop family, stone curlew, stonecutter, stoned, stone-dead, stone-deaf, stoneface

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use stone curlew in a sentence

The willet, or stone curlew as it is sometimes called, is a resident species, breeding from Washington to Mexico.
Game Birds and Game Fishes of the Pacific Coast|Harry Thom Payne
Willet, wil′et, n. a North American bird of the snipe family, belonging to the tattler group—also Stone-curlew.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements)|Various
Dear Sir,—The history of the stone-curlew, Charadrius œdicnemus, is as follows.
The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 1|Gilbert White
The Stone Curlew seems to be fully alive to the fact that the safest hiding-place is often the most conspicuous and open one.
Among the Birds in Northern Shires|Charles Dixon

It struck him suddenly that Miss Latimer herself looked like a stone-curlew.
The Third Window|Anne Douglas Sedgwick

British Dictionary definitions for stone curlew

stone curlew

noun

any of several brownish shore birds of the family Burhinidae, esp Burhinus oedicnemus, having a large head and eyes: order CharadriiformesAlso called: thick-knee

Word Origin for stone curlew

C17: so called because it is found in stony habitats and resembles a curlew

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