Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Sandpiper
Sand′piˊper
,Noun.
1.
(Zool.)
Any one of numerous species of small limicoline game birds belonging to
Tringa
, Actodromas
, Ereunetes
, and various allied genera of the family Tringidae
. ☞ The most important North American species are the pectoral sandpiper (
Tringa maculata
), called also brownback
, grass snipe
, and jacksnipe
; the red-backed, or black-breasted, sandpiper, or dunlin (Tringa alpina
); the purple sandpiper (Tringa maritima
: the red-breasted sandpiper, or knot (Tringa canutus
); the semipalmated sandpiper (Ereunetes pusillus
); the spotted sandpiper, or teeter-tail (Actitis macularia
); the buff-breasted sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis
), and the Bartramian sandpiper, or upland plover. See under Upland
. Among the European species are the dunlin, the knot, the ruff, the sanderling, and the common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucus
syn. Tringoides hypoleucus
), called also fiddler
, peeper
, pleeps
, weet-weet
, and summer snipe
. Some of the small plovers and tattlers are also called sandpipers
. Webster 1828 Edition
Sandpiper
SAND'PIPER
,Noun.