lapwing
(ˈlæpwɪŋ)
Forms: 1 hléapewince, 4 lhapwynche, 4–7 lapwinge, -wynge, lap-, lappewin(c)ke, -wynke, (4 leepwynke, 5 lapwinch, -wynche, 7 -winc(k)le), 4– -lapwing. Also 6 lappoint.
[OE. hléapewince, str. fem., f. hleápan to leap + *winc- to totter, waver (so OHG. winkan, MHG. winken, also to wink; cf. OE. wincian to wink. The bird was named from the manner of its flight. The current form is in part due to popular etymology, which connected the word with lap v.2 and wing n. (see quot. 1617).]
A well-known bird of the plover family, Vanellus vulgaris or cristatus, common in the temperate parts of the Old World. Called also pewit, from its peculiar cry. Its eggs were the ‘plovers' eggs’ of the London markets. Allusions are frequent to its crested head, to its wily method of drawing away a visitor from its nest, and to the notion that the newly hatched lapwing runs about with its head in the shell.
| c 1050 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 260/2 Cucu, hleapewince. 1340 Ayenb. 61 Hy byeþ ase þe lhapwynche þet ine velþe of man makeþ his nest. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 329 A lappewinke has lost his feith And is the brid falsest of alle. c 1430 Lydg. Temple of Glass 495 + 21 Had In dispit, ryght as a-mong foulys Ben Iayis, Pyis, Lapwyngis & these Oulys. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparowe 430 [They] With puwyt the lapwyng, The versycles shall syng. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 911 The lapwyng, le uaniau. 1569 J. Sandford tr. Agrippa's Van. Arts 137 b, The Lapwinke..seemeth to haue some royall thinge, and weareth a crowne. 1592 Greene Art Conny Catching ii. 4 Who..cry with the Lapwing farthest from their nest. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 192 This Lapwing runs away with the shell on his head. 1606 Sir G. Goosecappe i. i. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 9 As fearefull as a Haire, and will lye like a Lapwing. 1617 Minsheu Ductor, a Lappe-wing, q. leapwing, because he lappes or clappes the wings so often. a 1628 F. Greville Sidney (1652) 204 Like Lapwings with the shels of authority about their necks. 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. ii. iii. (1810) 239 And left the Wood with the Lapwings policie; that they being busied in pursuite of them, the other might remaine secure within that Fastnesse. 1786 Burns Afton Water ii, Thou green-crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear. 1842 Tennyson Locksley Hall 18 In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest. 1876 Smiles Sc. Natur. xiii. (ed. 4) 260 You could now hear..the pleasant peewit of the Lapwing. |
b. attrib. and Comb., as in lapwing stratagem, lapwing-like adv.; lapwing-gull (see quot. 1844).
| 1638 R. Brathwait Spir. Spicerie 406 Lapwing-like, with shell on head, I begun to write, before my yeares could well make mee an Author. 1669 Dryden Tyrannic Love iv. i, Your guilt dares not approach what it would hide; But draws me off, and (lapwing-like) flies wide. 1676 in Hist. Northfield (Mass.) (1875) 86 Be careful not to be deceived by their lapwing stratagems, by drawing you off from the rest to follow some men. 1844 W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. (1855) 326 The Laughing Gull..or Black Head..has been called ‘peewit’ or ‘lapwing gull’. |