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lapwing

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lap⋅wing

  [lap-wing]
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–noun
1. a large Old World plover, Vanellus vanellus, having a long, slender, upcurved crest, an erratic, flapping flight, and a shrill cry.
2. any of several similar, related plovers.
Origin:
bef. 1050; ME, var. (by assoc. with wing ) of lapwinke, OE hlēapwince plover. See leap, wink
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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lap·wing   (lāp'wĭng')   
n.  Any of several Old World birds of the genus Vanellus related to the plovers, especially V. vanellus, having a narrow crest and erratic flight behavior. Also called green plover, pewit.

[By folk etymology from Middle English lapwink, hoopoe, lapwing, from Old English hlēapewince : hlēapan, to leap + *wincan, to waver.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

lapwing 
M.E. lappewinke (1390), lapwyngis (c.1430), folk etymology alteration of O.E. hleapewince, lit. "leaper-winker," from hleapan "to leap" + wince "totter, waver, move rapidly," related to wincian "to wink." Said to be "in reference to its irregular flapping manner of flight" [Barnhart], but the lapwing also flaps around on the ground pretending to have a broken wing to lure egg-hunters away from its nest, which seems a more logical explanation. Its Gk. name was polyplagktos "luring on deceitfully."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Lapwing

the name of an unclean bird, mentioned only in Lev. 11:19 and Deut. 14:18. The Hebrew name of this bird, _dukiphath_, has been generally regarded as denoting the hoope (Upupa epops), an onomatopoetic word derived from the cry of the bird, which resembles the word "hoop;" a bird not uncommon in Palestine. Others identify it with the English peewit.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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