whimbrel

American

[hwim-bruhl, wim-] / ˈʰwɪm brəl, ˈwɪm- /

noun

a curlew, Numenius phaeopus, of both the New and Old Worlds.

whimbrel British

/ ˈwɪmbrəl /

noun

a small European curlew, Numenius phaeopus, with a striped head

"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

Etymology

Origin of whimbrel

1520–30; whim (perhaps imitative) + intrusive -b- + -rel

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

whimbrel

Another shorebird, the whimbrel, also makes a phenomenally long journey over the ocean.

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2022

And it did: Gone were the whimbrel and the white-rumped sandpiper the team had scouted earlier.

From Washington Post ● May 24, 2016

In August 2011, scientists used a radio tag to map the path of one intrepid whimbrel across the width of Hurricane Irene.

From Slate ● Oct. 29, 2012

We came upon a parasitic jaeger that dived from the sky onto what likely was a nest of a very upset whimbrel — a large curve billed shorebird.

From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2010

"That's something worse than a whimbrel, I'm thinking," said the other.

From Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn by Henry Kingsley

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023