from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sandpiper \Sand"pi`per\, n.
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}.
[1913 Webster]
Note: 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.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Zool.) A small lamprey eel; the pride.
[1913 Webster]
{Curlew sandpiper}. See under {Curlew}.
{Stilt sandpiper}. See under {Stilt}.
[1913 Webster]