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Webster 1913 Edition

Dotterel

Dot′ter-el

,
Adj.
[Cf.
Dottard
.]
Decayed.
“Some old dotterel trees.”
[Obs.]
Ascham.

Dot′ter-el

,
Noun.
[From
Dote
,
Verb.
I.
]
1.
(Zool.)
A European bird of the Plover family (
Eudromias morinellus
, syn.
Charadrius morinellus
). It is tame and easily taken, and is popularly believed to imitate the movements of the fowler.
In catching of
dotterels
we see how the foolish bird playeth the ape in gestures.
Bacon.
☞ The ringed dotterel (or ring plover) is
Charadrius hiaticula
.
2.
A silly fellow; a dupe; a gull.
Barrow.

Webster 1828 Edition

Dotterel

DOTTEREL

,
Noun.
The name of different species of fowls, of the genus Charadrius and the grallic order; as the Alexandrine dotterel, the ringed dotterel, and the Morinellus; also, the turnstone or sea dotterel, a species of the genus Tringa.

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