kildee

English

Noun

kildee (plural kildees)

1. Alternative form of killdeer
   • 1871, Parker Gillmore, A Hunter's Adventures in the Great West, page 175:

     At the mouth of the pool in which I had bathed, there was a point of sand, on which I saw several kildees, a species of plover, and, being desirous to note some of their peculiarities, I approached as close as these pretty little birds would permit, without their being driven to take wing.

   • 1890, William Dean Howells, A Boy's Town, page 153:

     He had risen at daybreak to go out and shoot kildees on the Common, and he was hurrying along with his gun on his shoulder when the citizen stopped him and asked him what he was going to do with that gun.

   • 1964, John Hendrix, If I Can Do It Horseback: A Cow-Country Sketchbook, page 23:

     As I ride up to the hole of water with its bluff high to the back of it and a gravelly beach to the front, the kildees chirp and dance along the water's edge.

Anagrams

• Keidel