curlew means any of several migratory wading birds in the genus Numenius, remarkable for their long, slender, downcurved bills. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.
Why this word is great
CURLEW — [Noun] Any of several migratory wading birds of the genus Numenius, characterized by a long, slender, downcurved bill. From Middle English curlew, from Anglo-French curleu, likely imitative of the bird's cry but influenced by Old French corliu ("messenger, runner"), from courir ("to run"). Unlike the frenetic sandpiper, a bustling, short-billed forager of the tideline, or the furtive snipe, a straight-billed phantom of reedy marshes, the curlew is a creature of mournful openness and elegant probe. It is the mournful, fluting whistle carried on a salt wind, the silhouette of a bowed scimitar against a twilight sky, and the patient, sweeping probe of soft mud for hidden life—a long-legged figure whose very anatomy is shaped by the weight of distance. In that elegant curve and plaintive call, one hears the geography of loneliness itself.
noun
- Any of several migratory wading birds in the genus Numenius, remarkable for their long, slender, downcurved bills.
- A stone curlew (Burhinidae spp.).“That quivering wail from the billabong lying murkily mystic towards the East was only the cry of the fearing curlew.”