Dictionary

curlew en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkɜːlu/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɜːlju/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈkɝlu/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Middle English curlew, from Old French courlieu (see French courlis), claimed to be imitative of the bird's cry but apparently assimilated with dialectal *corliu (“runner, messenger”), a variant of coureur (the bird is adept at running).

Meanings

1. Any of several migratory wading birds in the genus Numenius, remarkable for their long, slender, downcurved bills.
   • The corncrake nested in the unmown field Answers its mate, across the misty stream On fitful wing the startled curlews fly, And in his sedgy bed the lark, for joy that Day is nigh [...] a. 1881, Oscar Wilde, 'The Garden of Eros', in Poems:
2. (Australia) A stone curlew (Burhinidae spp.).
   • That quivering wail from the billabong lying murkily mystic towards the East was only the cry of the fearing curlew. 1902, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Bush Studies (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 16:

Forms

Deriveds

bristle-thighed curlew · bush stone-curlew · curlewlike · Hudsonian curlew · long-billed curlew · great stone-curlew · eastern curlew · little curlew · slender-billed curlew · northern curlew · Eskimo curlew · Eurasian stone-curlew · beach stone-curlew · Eurasian curlew · stone-curlew

Relateds

stone curlew · curlew sandpiper

Translations (46)

ru кроншне́п (migratory wading bird) · sw membe (migratory wading bird) · sco whaup (migratory wading bird) · ast algaraván (migratory wading bird) · cs koliha (migratory wading bird) · ro găinușă-de-baltă (migratory wading bird) · izh sookulikka (migratory wading bird) · it chiurlo (migratory wading bird) · lt kuolinga (migratory wading bird) · pl kulik (migratory wading bird) · nys weerlow (migratory wading bird) · fr courlis (migratory wading bird) · cy gylfinir (migratory wading bird) · nrf couorlieu (migratory wading bird) · eo numenio (migratory wading bird) · pt maçarico (migratory wading bird) · et koovitaja (migratory wading bird) · pl kulig (migratory wading bird) · nv daakʼį́į́ʼ (migratory wading bird) · ca becut (migratory wading bird) · izh vihmakulli (migratory wading bird) · ro corlă (migratory wading bird) · eo kurlo (migratory wading bird) · lv kuitila (migratory wading bird) · sq kojlik (migratory wading bird) · hu póling (migratory wading bird) · el τουρλί (migratory wading bird) · izh vesikulli (migratory wading bird) · vec arcasa (migratory wading bird) · el νουμήνιος (migratory wading bird) · ga crotach (migratory wading bird) · gl mazarico (migratory wading bird) · es zarapito (migratory wading bird) · sq kllinzë (migratory wading bird) · arz كروان (migratory wading bird) · ga cuirliún (migratory wading bird) · gd guilbneach (migratory wading bird) · tr kervan çulluğu (migratory wading bird) · de Brachvogel (migratory wading bird) · ast zarapicu (migratory wading bird) · el τουρλίδα (migratory wading bird) · fi kuovi (migratory wading bird) · he חֶרְמְשׁוֹן (migratory wading bird) · ar كَرَوَان (migratory wading bird) · ca polit (migratory wading bird) · nl wulp (migratory wading bird)