Adjacent Words

Dotterel definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DOTTEREL, n. The name of different species of fowls, of the genus Charadrius and the grallic order; as the Alexandrine dotterel, the ringed dotterel, and the Morinellus; also, the turnstone or sea dotterel, a species of the genus Tringa.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: rare plover of upland areas of Eurasia [syn: dotterel, dotrel, Charadrius morinellus, Eudromias morinellus]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English dotrelle, irregular from doten to dote Date: 15th century a Eurasian plover (Eudromias morinellus) formerly common in England; also any of various related plovers chiefly of eastern Asia, Australia, and South America

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a small migrant plover, Eudromias morinellus. Etymology: ME f. DOTE + -REL, named from the ease with which it is caught, taken to indicate stupidity

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dotterel Dot"ter*el, a. [Cf. Dottard.] Decayed. ``Some old dotterel trees.'' [Obs.] --Ascham.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dotterel Dot"ter*el, n. [From Dote, v. i.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) A European bird of the Plover family (Eudromias, or Charadrius, morinellus). It is tame and easily taken, and is popularly believed to imitate the movements of the fowler. In catching of dotterels we see how the foolish bird playeth the ape in gestures. -- Bacon. Note: The ringed dotterel (or ring plover) is Charadrius hiaticula. 2. A silly fellow; a dupe; a gull. --Barrow.