willet
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of willet
1700–10, short for pill-will-willet, conventional imitative of its cry
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:
Frightful watched a duck fly into the reeds and a willet find shelter behind a dense clump of sedge.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
The willet, or stone curlew as it is sometimes called, is a resident species, breeding from Washington to Mexico.
From Game Birds and Game Fishes of the Pacific Coast by Payne, Harry Thom
New York: Quail, woodcock, upland plover, golden plover, black-bellied plover, willet, dowitcher, red-breasted sandpiper, long-billed curlew, wood-duck, purple martin, redheaded woodpecker, mourning dove; gray squirrel, otter.
From Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation by Hornaday, William Temple
Some sandpiper groups sound like fancy Victorian musical instruments or board games: whimbrels and willets, dowitchers, dunlins, shanks, and tattlers.
From The Verge ● Jun. 26, 2016
This weekend’s special three-hour edition heads to the vast Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, where you can expect to see osprey, peregrine falcons, willets and many other species.
From New York Times ● Jul. 2, 2015
This weekend’s trip heads to the huge Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, where you can expect to see osprey, peregrine falcons, willets and many other species.
From New York Times ● Jun. 18, 2015
Other shoreline birds, such as curlews, plovers and willets, which feed on sand creatures, had fled the area.
From Time Magazine Archive
In less than two days he and the terns and willets reached Delaware Bay.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
