'piping plover' definitions:
Definition of 'piping plover'
(from WordNet)
noun
Small plover of eastern North America [syn: piping plover, Charadrius melodus]
Definition of 'piping plover'
From: GCIDE
- Plover \Plov"er\, n. [OF. plovier, F. pluvier, prop., the rain bird, fr. LL. (assumed) pluviarius, fr. L. pluvia rain, from pluere to rain; akin to E. float, G. fliessen to flow. See Float.]
- 1. (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds belonging to the family Charadrid[ae], and especially those belonging to the subfamily Charadrins[ae]. They are prized as game birds. [1913 Webster]
- 2. (Zool.) Any grallatorial bird allied to, or resembling, the true plovers, as the crab plover (Dromas ardeola); the American upland, plover (Bartramia longicauda); and other species of sandpipers. [1913 Webster]
- Note: Among the more important species are the {blackbellied plover} or blackbreasted plover ({Charadrius squatarola}) of America and Europe; -- called also gray plover, bull-head plover, Swiss plover, {sea plover}, and oxeye; the golden plover (see under Golden); the ring plover or ringed plover (Aegialitis hiaticula). See Ringneck. The {piping plover} (Aegialitis meloda); Wilson's plover (Aegialitis Wilsonia); the mountain plover (Aegialitis montana); and the semipalmated plover (Aegialitis semipalmata), are all small American species. [1913 Webster]
- Bastard plover (Zool.), the lapwing.
- Long-legged plover, or yellow-legged plover. See Tattler.
- Plover's page, the dunlin. [Prov. Eng.]
- Rock plover, or Stone plover, the black-bellied plover. [Prov. Eng.]
- Whistling plover. (a) The golden plover. (b) The black-bellied plover. [1913 Webster] Plow