curlew
(ˈkɜːl(j)uː)
Forms: α. 4 curlu, -leeu, corlue, corolu, kurlu, 4–5 corlew(e, 4–6 curlewe, 4–7 curlue, 5 kyrlewe, corelewe, 7 courlieu, 7–8 curliew, 7– 9 curlieu, 8 kerlew, 4– curlew; also β. 4 cor-, curlure, 5 curlowyr.
[Identical with OF. courlieus (13th c. in Hatzfeld), corlys (16th c. in Littré), courlis, corlis, corlieu (Cotgr.), mod.F. courlieu, courlis, in F. dial. querlu, kerlu, corlu, corleru; cf. also med.L. (a 1250) corlivus, It. chiurlo. The French name is held by etymologists to be an imitation of the cry of the bird; but if so, it was apparently assimilated to the word corliu (11th c.), courlieu, curleu, corli courier, messenger, deriv. of courir to run. Found in verse with stress curˈlew in 15th and 19th c.]
1. A grallatorial bird of the genus Numenius (family Scolopacidæ), with a long slender curved bill; esp. the common European species N. arquatus (called in Scotland whaup).
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 43 Fissch to lyue in þe flode..Þe corlue by kynde of þe eyre. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 1406 Fatt conyngus and newe, ffesauntus and corelewe. 1555 Eden Decades 119 A great curlewe as bygge as a storke came flying to the gouernours shippe. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 78 The Woodcocke and Curlew, and other birds haunting the Water and Riuers. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 233 A Pidgeon or a Curlieu. 1810 Scott Lady of L. v. ix, Wild as the scream of the curlieu. 1842 Tennyson Locksley Hall 3 'Tis the place, and all around it, as of old, the curlews call. |
† 2. Used (esp. in the Bible) to translate L. coturnix, Gr. ὄρτυξ, a quail. Obs.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter civ. 38 Þai asked & þe curlu come [1382 Wyclif, ther kam a kurlu (v.r. curlew, corlure); Vulgate, venit coturnix]. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 309 Þe same Delon hatte Ortygia; for ortigie, (þat beeþ coturnicies, curlewes,) beeþ þerynne greet plente. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 762/3 Hic conturnix, curlowyr. 1508 Fisher Wks. (1876) 186 Curlewes, or quayles. |
3. Applied in comb. or with qualification to other grallatorial birds, as curlew-jack, curlew knot, the Whimbrel, a small species of curlew, Numenius phæops; curlew sandpiper, pigmy curlew, Tringa subarquata; stone curlew, a name for the Norfolk plover (Œdicnemus scolopax), and also for the whimbrel.
| 1605 in Archæol. XIII. 341 These Foules bee nowe in seasone. Bustarde..Widgeon, Curlewiake. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. iii. v. xiv. 306 The Stone-Curlew..The Throat, Neck [etc.]..like that of a Curlew: whence they of Norfolk call it, the Stone-Curlew. 1766 Pennant Zool. (1768) II. 379 From a similarity of colors to the curlew, it [Norfolk Plover] is there called the stone curlew. Ibid. s.v. Whimbrel, It..visit[s] the neighborhood of Spalding (where it is called the Curlew knot) in vast flocks in April. 1789 G. White Selborne xv. (1853) 63, I wonder that the stone curlew should be mentioned by the writers as a rare bird. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 179, 194. |
4. Comb. curlew-berry, a name given in Labrador to the Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum).