ˈred-shank(s, ˈredshank
1. One who has red legs; spec. a. (chiefly in pl.) One of the Celtic inhabitants of the Scottish Highlands and of Ireland. Now only Hist.
The name was app. given in allusion to the colour of the bare legs reddened by exposure, and not for the reason assigned in quot. 1818.
| 1542 Elder Let. to Hen. VIII in Bannatyne Misc. (1827) I. 10 The Yrische lordes of Scotland, commonly callit the Reddshanckes, and by historiographouris, Pictis. Ibid. 13 Wherfore they call ws in Scotland Reddshankes,..goynge alwaies bair leggide and bair footide [etc.]. 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. iii. (1870) 132 The other parte of Irland is called the wilde Irysh; and the Redshankes be among them. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 658/2 The O-Neales are neerelye allyed..to the Earle of Argile, from whom they use to have all theyr succours of those Scotts and Redd⁓shankes. 1611 L. Barry Ram Alley D ij b, I will rather wed a most perfidious Redshanke. 1648 Milton Observ. Art. Peace Wks. (1851) 580 By thir actions we might rather judg them to be a generation of High-land Theevs and Red⁓shanks. 1681 S. Colvil Whigs' Supplic. ii. (1741) 137 That Red-shank sullen, Once challenged for stealling Beef. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 18 July, Let. i, The mountaineers of Wales, and the redshanks of Ireland. 1818 Jamieson in Burt's Lett. N. Scotl. I. 74 note, In the Lowlands of Scotland, the rough-footed Highlanders were called red-shanks, from the colour of the red-deer hair. 1893 Stevenson Catriona 182 There might be knives again; these red-shanks are unco grudgeful. |
b. (See quot.)
| 1846 New Monthly Mag. Feb. 181 ‘Yer dinner's ready, sir’, screamed a red-shank from the house. [Ibid. 180 note, A term applied in Connaught to ladies, who consider stockings a superfluity.] |
c. A red-stockinged person; a cardinal.
| 1824 Byron Def. Transf. ii. ii. 6 What have we here? A cardinal or two..How the old red-shanks scamper! |
2. Ornith. a. A wading bird (Totanus calidris) of the snipe family (Scolopacidæ), so called from the colour of its legs. See also red-legs 1.
to run (etc.) like a redshank (quot. 1804) is a common dialect phrase (and is also recorded in N.Z.).
| 1525 L'Estrange Househ.-bk. in Archæologia XXV. 487 Item vj plovers..iiij redshancks. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 39 The rede schank cryit my fut my fut. 1570 Levins Manip. 24/36 Readshanke, hæmocopedus. 1620 Venner Via Recta iii. 64 The Puet, the Red-shanke,..are..to be reiected, as vnwholsome. 1623 Capt. Smith Wks. (Arb.) II. 629 The gray and greene Plouer, some wilde Ducks and Malards, Coots and Red-Shankes. a 1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts 108 [The description] seems more agreeable unto some kind of Red⁓shank. 1768 Pennant Brit. Zool. II. 368 Redshank; this species is found on most of our shores; in the winter time it conceals itself in the gutters; and is generally found single, or at most in pairs. 1804 M. Edgeworth Ennui vi, He'll run like a red-shank with the news to the castle. 1843 Yarrell Brit. Birds II. 525 Redshanks are not uncommon in Cornwall, Devonshire, and Dorsetshire. 1873 E. Waugh Snowed-Up v. 88 They're off like red⁓shanks! An' they'n come noan back to-neet, noather. 1891 G. Chamier Philosopher Dick 466 Without another thought or look behind us we were off like red shanks. 1894 Newton Dict. Birds 774 The body of the Redshank is almost as big as a Snipe's, but its longer neck, wings and legs make it appear a much larger bird. 1901 W. F. Barry Wizard's Knot vi. 53 Don't be running from us that way like a redshank. 1903 N.Z. Illustr. Mag. VIII. 93 They would be off into the bush like redshanks. |
b. (See quot. 1894.)
| 1776 Pennant Brit. Zool. (ed. 4) II. 377 Spotted Redshank... In size it is equal to the greenshank. 1843 Yarrell Brit. Birds II. 523 As the white spots on the wings..are permanent in this bird at all ages and seasons, I have preferred calling it the Spotted Redshank. 1863 Spring & Summer in Lapland 349 The dusky redshank..seems a stranger here, but breeds further up in the valley of the Munio. 1894 Newton Dict. Birds 775 The name Red⁓shank, prefixed by some epithet as Black, Dusky, or Spotted has also been applied to a larger but allied species—the Totanus fuscus of ornithologists. |
† c. Cant. A duck or drake. Obs.
| 1567 Harman Caveat 83 A quakinge chete or a red shanke, a drake or ducke. 1725 New Cant. Dict. Song 18 On Red⁓shanks, and Tibs thou shalt ev'ry Day dine. |
3. a. A name given to various species of Polygonum, esp. P. persicaria, the spotted persicaria.
| 1674–91 Ray N.C. Words 57 Redshanks; Arsmart. 1798 Nemnich Polygl. Lex. v. 867 Red Shanks, Polygonum persicaria. 1869– in northern dial. glossaries. |
b. Herb Robert, Geranium Robertianum.
| 1757 Lisle Obs. Husb. 345 (E.D.S.). 1828 Carr Craven Gloss. II. 78. |
c. Sc. (See quot.)
| 1810 J. Robertson Agric. Surv. Kincard. 376 (Jam.) Should dock-weeds be allowed to remain till they begin to ripen (then called red-shanks) they are not so easily pulled. |
4. (See quots.)
| 1805 Young Annals Agric. XLIII. 628 (E.D.D.) The wheat began to change colour, or get into what is called the red shank preparative to ripening. 1891 Sheffield Gloss. Suppl. s.v., When the straw is in the red-shank wheat is said to be nearly ripe. |
5. attrib., as (sense 1) red-shank rebel; red-shank gambet = sense 2; red-shank gull, the black-headed gull, Larus ridibundus; † red-shank pea, a variety of field-pea.
| c 1650 Sir H. Spottiswoode in Maidment Spottiswoode Misc. (1844–5) I. 179 In bloud he made The red-shank rebells wade. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 138 They reckon the Henley grey and the red-shank Pease are the best for never broke-up Ground. 1840 Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 246 A fourth [species].., the Redshank Gambet, is very abundant in Britain. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Brit. Birds 209 From the bright vermilion of its feet and legs it is called Red-shank gull (Ireland). |