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dotterel

noun
/ˈdɒtɹəl/

Etymology

15th century. From dote (“to be foolish; senile”) + -rel (“pejorative suffix”). The bird is so named as it is easy to catch.

  1. inherited from dote
  2. derived from doten — “to be silly”
  3. derived from doten — “to be foolish”
  4. inherited from doten
  5. suffixed as dotterel — “dote + rel”

Definitions

  1. A gullible fool, especially an elderly person with impaired faculties.

    • This poor dotterel, Sir Arthur, is playing fast and loose with me.

  2. A small brown-and-black bird of species Charadrius morinellus, of the plover family.

  3. Any of various small birds of Australasia thought to resemble the Eurasian dotterel.

  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. decayed

      • some old dotterel trees

The neighborhood

Derived

black-fronted dotterel, Eurasian dotterel, hooded dotterel, inland dotterel, red-kneed dotterel, sea dotterel, shore dotterel, tawny-throated dotterel

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for dotterel. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA