spoonbill
(ˈspuːnbɪl)
[f. spoon n. + bill n.2, after Du. lepelaar (in Kilian lepeler, lepel-gans), f. lepel spoon.]
1. Ornith. One or other of various species of birds belonging to the widely distributed genus Platalea, characterized by having a long spatulate or spoon-shaped bill; esp. the common white species, P. leucorodia.
| 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. iii. 288 The Spoon-bill. Platea sive Pelecanus... The Bill is.. of the likeness of a Spoon, whence also the Bird it self is called by the Low Dutch, Lepelaer, that is, Spoon-bill. 1681 Grew Musæum i. iv. 66 The Head of the Shovler or Spoonbill. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 6 The Spoonbill..differs a good deal from the crane, yet approaches this class more than any other. 1828 Lytton Pelham II. iii, What,..that one foot square of mortality, with an aquatic-volucrine face, like a spoonbill? 1862 J. G. Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. II. 670 The beak of an adult Spoonbill is about eight inches in length, very much flattened. c 1880 Cassell's Nat. Hist. IV. 188 Only half a dozen species of Spoonbills are known. |
b. With distinguishing terms.
| 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. iii. 289 Tlauhquechul, or the Mexican Spoon-bill,..feeds only on living fish. Ibid., The Brasilian Spoon-bill... In figure..agrees with the European Platea, differing only in colour. 1725 Sloane Jamaica II. 317 Platea incarnata. The American Scarlet-Pelican, or, Spoon-Bill. 1785 Latham Gen. Synop. Birds III. i. 13 White Spoonbill, Platalea leucorodia. Ibid. 16 Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea Ajaja. Ibid. V. i. 17 Dwarf Spoon-bill, Platalea pygmea. c 1835 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XXIII. 409/1 Platalea Tenuirostris,..Slender-beaked Spoonbill. 1836 Asiatic Researches I. i. 71 The Pigmy Spoonbill is ash grey above, and white beneath. 1898 Morris Austral Eng. 430 The Australian species are—Royal Spoonbill, Platalea regia; Yellow-billed S., P. flavipes. |
c. pl. (With capital initial.) The genus
Platalea, to which these species belong.
| 1819 Stephens Shaw's Zool. XI. ii. 641 The Spoonbills live in society in the maritime marshes, or near the mouths of great rivers. 1834 M{supc}Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 150 The Spoonbills approximate to the storks in the whole of their structure. 1879 E. P. Wright Anim. Life 328 The Spoonbills and Ibises form the family called Plataleidæ. |
2. A spatulate or spoon-shaped bill.
| 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xv, In the swan, the web-foot, the spoon-bill, the long neck,..bear all a relation to one another. |
3. Ichth. (See
quots.)
| 1882 Imperial Dict. IV. 168/1 Spoon-bill,..a name given to a kind of sturgeon (Polyodon spatula) found in the Ohio, Mississippi, &c. 1892 J. A. Thomson Outl. Zool. 430 The paddle-fish or spoon bill of the Mississippi. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
spoonbill bonnet,
spoonbill fashion,
spoonbill-like;
spoonbill cat,
duck,
snipe (see
quots.).
| 1881 Daily News 10 Mar. 5/1 When the *spoonbill bonnet was abruptly cast aside for the bonnet no bigger than a cheese plate. |
| 1882 Jordan & Gilbert Syn. Fishes N. Amer. 83 Polyodon spathula, Paddle-fish; *Spoon-bill Cat. |
| 1813 Montagu Ornith. Suppl., Scaup-Duck... Provincial [name]. *Spoon-bill Duck. 1874 Coues Birds N.W. 570 Spatula clypeata... Shoveller; Spoonbill Duck. |
| 1883 Pall Mall G. Suppl. 2 June, The extraordinarily rare *spoonbill snipe. |