[Echoic.]
1. int. An imitation of the cry of certain birds, esp. the sandpiper and chaffinch. Also sb. as the name for this cry.
1808–13. A. Wilson, Amer. Ornith. (1831), III. 170. I could still hear their low note of weet weet, as they approached near to the vessel below me.
1831. Howitt, Seasons (1837), 106. The weet-weet and pink-pink of the chaffinch.
1843. Zoologist, I. 221. The ‘weet weet’ of the sandpiper.
2. sb. Used as a name for the sandpiper.
1852. Macgillivray, Brit. Birds, IV. 350. Actitis. Weet-weet. Ibid., The Weet-weets are small migratory birds, which frequent the sandy and muddy margins of lakes, rivers, and estuaries. Ibid., 351. Actitis Hypoleucos. The White-breasted Weet-weet. Ibid., 356. Actitis macularia. The Spotted Weet-weet.
1862. Johns, Brit. Birds, 625. Weet-weet, the Common Sandpiper.
