plov·er

(plŭv′ər, plō′vər)

n. pl. plover or plov·ers

1. Any of various widely distributed shorebirds of the family Charadriidae, having rounded bodies, short tails, and short bills.

2. Any of various similar or related birds.

[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman plover, pluvier, from Vulgar Latin *pluviārius : *plu-, probably imitative of plover cries (possibly influenced by Latin pluvia, rain (plovers being associated with rain in various later European traditions, because they were thought to be more active or easily caught in the rain, or because it was thought that they arrived with the rainy season); see pluvial) + Latin -ārius, n. suff.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

plover

(ˈplʌvə)

1. (Animals) any shore bird of the family Charadriidae, typically having a round head, straight bill, and large pointed wings: order Charadriiformes

2. (Animals) any of similar and related birds, such as the Egyptian plover and the upland plover. See crocodile bird

3. (Animals) green plover another name for lapwing

[C14: from Old French plovier rainbird, from Latin pluvia rain]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

plov•er

(ˈplʌv ər, ˈploʊ vər)

n.

1. any of various shorebirds of the family Charadriidae, of worldwide distribution, having a thick neck, compact body, and a pigeonlike beak.

2. any of various similar shorebirds.

[1275–1325; Middle English < Anglo-French; Old French plovier < Vulgar Latin *pluviārius. See pluvial, -er²]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

plover - any of numerous chiefly shorebirds of relatively compact build having straight bills and large pointed wings; closely related to the sandpipers

limicoline bird, shore bird, shorebird - any of numerous wading birds that frequent mostly seashores and estuaries

Charadriidae, family Charadriidae - plover family

Charadrius melodus, piping plover - small plover of eastern North America

Charadrius vociferus, kildeer, killdeer, killdeer plover - American plover of inland waters and fields having a distinctive cry

Charadrius morinellus, dotrel, dotterel, Eudromias morinellus - rare plover of upland areas of Eurasia

golden plover - plovers of Europe and America having the backs marked with golden-yellow spots

green plover, lapwing, peewit, pewit - large crested Old World plover having wattles and spurs

turnstone - migratory shorebirds of the plover family that turn over stones in searching for food

plover

noun

Related words
collective nouns stand, wing

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

piviere

plover

[ˈplʌvəʳ] N → chorlito m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

plover

n → Regenpfeifer m; (= lapwing) → Kiebitz m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

plover

[ˈplʌvəʳ] n → piviere m
ringed plover → corriere m grosso
golden plover → piviere dorato

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Put an olive into a lark, put a lark into a quail; put a quail into a plover; put a plover into a partridge; put a partridge into a pheasant; put a pheasant into a turkey.

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They went boating on the harbor and up the three pretty rivers that flowed into it; they had clambakes on the bar and mussel-bakes on the rocks; they picked strawberries on the sand-dunes; they went out cod-fishing with Captain Jim; they shot plover in the shore fields and wild ducks in the cove--at least, the men did.

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He saw a great venison pasty and two roasted capons, beside which was a platter of plover's eggs; moreover, there was a flask of sack and one of canary--a sweet sight to a hungry man.

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The hunter had been successful, and brought back a regular cargo of geese, wild-duck, snipe, teal, and plover. He went to work at once to draw and smoke the game.

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Set out for Buenos Ayres -- Rio Sauce -- Sierra Ventana -- Third Posta -- Driving Horses -- Bolas -- Partridges and Foxes -- Features of the Country -- Long-legged Plover -- Teru-tero -- Hail-storm -- Natural Enclosures in the Sierra Tapalguen -- Flesh of Puma -- Meat Diet -- Guardia del Monte -- Effects of Cattle on the Vegetation -- Cardoon -- Buenos Ayres -- Corral where Cattle are Slaughtered.

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These islands are furnished with a number of ponds, and at certain seasons abound with swans, geese, brandts, cranes, gulls, plover, and other wild-fowl.

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She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a woman who has had her own way to make in the world.

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If a gust of wind swept the waste, I looked up, fearing it was the rush of a bull; if a plover whistled, I imagined it a man.

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Except these, the plover and the curlew are the only inhabitants until you come to the Chesterfield high road.

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The supper itself, absolutely the best of its kind, from the caviare and plovers' eggs to the marvellous ices, and served in one of the handsomest rooms in London, was really beyond criticism.

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Tapeworm was nephew and heir of old Marshal Tiptoff, who has been introduced in this story as General Tiptoff, just before Waterloo, who was Colonel of the --th regiment in which Major Dobbin served, and who died in this year full of honours, and of an aspic of plovers' eggs; when the regiment was graciously given by his Majesty to Colonel Sir Michael O'Dowd, K.C.B.

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A single basket made of moss, once containing plovers' eggs, held all that the poulterer had to say to the rabble.

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