: an American plover (Charadrius vociferus) characterized by two black breast bands and a plaintive penetrating cry
Illustration of killdeer
Did you know?
This attractive dark-eyed bird has a loud, rather sad cry that to some people sounds like “Kill deer! Kill deer!” Killdeers are not vicious birds. They have no special hatred of deer, and they do not eat venison. The killdeer is simply an animal that got its name from human interpretation of its call.
Examples of killdeer in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebIbises and killdeers waded in the pond, but the ducks wouldn’t stop.—Brandon Loomis, The Arizona Republic, 30 Aug. 2023 Native killdeer returned to nest a week after construction was completed.—William McDonough, Scientific American, 1 July 2017 The killdeer couldn’t.—Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 8 June 2012 The bird, a killdeer, had made its ground nest in a high traffic area.—Bill Jones, Chicago Tribune, 9 June 2022 Urso, who was carrying a bird book, showed Mrvan a photo of a killdeer.—Alexandra Kukulka, chicagotribune.com, 19 Aug. 2021 Those killdeer eggs, however, completely exposed on the gravel of a shoreline or your driveway, are heavily speckled with dark markings.—Jim Williams, Star Tribune, 27 Apr. 2021 But perhaps this particular killdeer and its mate were just hoping to take in a performance by Ghostface Killah.—Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 28 June 2018 At the ballfields a pair of killdeer occupied the same area that seems to attract them each year.—Taylor Piephoff, charlotteobserver, 9 Mar. 2018
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'killdeer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
: a North American plover that has two black bands on its breast and a distinctive high-pitched loud cry
Etymology
imitation
Word Origin
Killdeers are not vicious birds. They have no special hatred of deer, and they do not eat venison. This attractive, dark-eyed bird has a loud, rather sad cry that to some people sounds like "Kill deer! Kill deer!" So the killdeer is an animal that got its name from human interpretation of its call.
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