Definition of Killdeer

1. Noun. American plover of inland waters and fields having a distinctive cry.

Exact synonyms: Charadrius Vociferus, Kildeer, Killdeer Plover
Generic synonyms: Plover
Group relationships: Charadrius, Genus Charadrius

Definition of Killdeer

1. Noun. A North American plover (''Charadrius vociferus'') with a distinctive cry and territorial behavior that includes feigning injury to distract interlopers from the nest. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Killdeer

1. a wading bird [n -S]

Medical Definition of Killdeer

1. A small American plover (aegialitis vocifera). It is dark grayish brown above; the rump and upper tail coverts are yellowish rufous; the belly, throat, and a line over the eyes, white; a ring round the neck and band across the breast, black. Origin: So named from its notes. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Killdeer

kill two birds with one stone
kill zone
killable
killadar
killadars
killalaite
killas
killases
killbot
killbots
killcow
killcows
killcrop
killcrops
killdee
killdeer (current term)
killdeer plover
killdeers
killdees
killed
killed in action
killed time
killed two birds with one stone
killer
killer T-cell
killer T cell
killer T cells
killer app
killer application
killer applications

Literary usage of Killdeer

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Auk: Quarterly Journal of Ornithology by American Ornithologists' Union, Nuttall Ornithological Club (1920)
"killdeer have been before recorded from Peru,1 from Colombia,2 Ecuador,3 Paraguay ... This discovery places the killdeer, distributionally, in the group of ..."

2. Birds that Every Child Should Know: The East, by Neltje Blanchan [pseud by Neltje Blanchan, Nellie Blanchan (De Graff) Doubleday (1907)
"Some killdeer, however, are hatched in the United States. No sportsman worthy the name would waste shot on a bird not larger than a robin; one, moreover, ..."

3. Bird-life: A Guide to the Study of Our Common Birds by Frank Michler Chapman, Ernest Thompson Seton (1897)
"killdeer. Length, 10 50 inches. Upper parts brownish gray, upper tail-coverts rusty ; under parts white ; two bands on breast, crown and lores black, ..."

4. Our Vanishing Wild Life: Its Extermination and Preservation by William Temple Hornaday (1913)
"Shorebirds are fond of other insect pests of forage and grain crops, including the army worm, which is known to be eaten by the killdeer and spotted ..."

5. The Birds of Ohio: A Complete Scientific and Popular Description of the 320 by William Leon Dawson, Lynds Jones (1902)
"Upon this bed reposed four killdeer eggs. When you saw them you saw them, because their outlines were rounded instead of angular; but the moment the eye ..."

6. Birds of California: An Introduction to More Than Three Hundred Common Birds by Irene Grosvenor Wheelock (1903)
"... season it is found in Russia, Siberia, Alaska, Franklin Bay, and the Barren Lands. In each locality it has a different common name. 273. killdeer. ..."

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