lapwing

noun

1. Any of several medium-sized wading birds belonging to the subfamily Vanellinae, within family Charadriidae.

   “Plovers and lapwings are a large, virtually worldwide family that differs from sandpipers in, among other things, having a shorter, thicker, pigeonlike bill and more robust proportions.”

   “The resident tropical plovers have much less pointed wings, and most of the lapwings have fairly rounded wing-tips, a wing shape apparently more adapted to aerial manoeuvrability than to long-distance migration.”

   “Lapwings are abundant winter visitors to the area but, like the Golden Plovers, vary greatly in number between years.”

2. Any of several medium-sized wading birds belonging to the subfamily Vanellinae, within family Charadriidae.
3. (obsolete)A silly man.

   “This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.”