willet

American  

[wil-it] / ˈwɪl ɪt /

noun

willets, plural willet plural

1. a large, eastern North American shorebird, Catoptrophorus semipalmatus, having a striking black and white wing pattern.

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willet British  

/ ˈwɪlɪt /

noun

1. a large American shore bird, Catoptrophorus semipalmatus, having a long stout bill, long legs, and a grey plumage with black-and-white wings: family Scolopacidae (sandpipers, etc), order Charadriiformes

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• willets
  plural
• willet
  plural

Etymology

Origin of willet

1700–10, short for pill-will-willet, conventional imitative of its cry

Example Sentences

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