Forms: α. 4 curlu, -leeu, corlue, corolu, kurlu, 4–5 corlew(e, 4–6 curlewe, 4–7 curlue, 5 kyrlewe, corelewe, 7 courlieu, 7–8 curliew, 7–9 curlieu, 8 kerlew, 4– curlew; also β. 4 cor-, curlure, 5 curlowyr. [Identical with OF. courlieus (13th c. in Hatzfeld), corlys (16th c. in Littré), courlis, corlis, corlieu (Cotgr.), mod.F. courlieu, courlis, in F. dial. querlu, kerlu, corlu, corleru; cf. also med.L. (a 1250) corlivus, It. chiurlo. The French name is held by etymologists to be an imitation of the cry of the bird; but if so, it was apparently assimilated to the word corliu (11th c.), courlieu, curleu, corli courier, messenger, deriv. of courir to run. Found in verse with stress curlew· in 15th and 19th c.]
1. A grallatorial bird of the genus Numenius (family Scolopacidæ), with a long slender curved bill; esp. the common European species N. arquatus (called in Scotland whaup).
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIV. 43. Fissch to lyue in þe flode … Þe corlue by kynde of þe eyre.
a. 1440. Sir Degrev., 1406. Fatt conyngus and newe, ffesauntus and corelewe.
1555. Eden, Decades, 119. A great curlewe as bygge as a storke came flying to the gouernours shippe.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 78. The Woodcocke and Curlew, and other birds haunting the Water and Riuers.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. 233. A Pidgeon or a Curlieu.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., V. ix. Wild as the scream of the curlieu.
1842. Tennyson, Locksley Hall, 3. ’Tis the place, and all around it, as of old, the curlews call.
† 2. Used (esp. in the Bible) to translate L. coturnix, Gr. ὄρτυξ, a quail. Obs.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter civ. 38. Þai asked & þe curlu come [1382 Wyclif, ther kam a kurlu (v.r. curlew, corlure); Vulgate, venit coturnix].
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 309. Þe same Delon hatte Ortygia; for ortigie, (þat beeþ coturnicies, curlewes,) beeþ þerynne greet plente.
c. 1475. Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 762/3. Hic conturnix, curlowyr.
1508. Fisher, Wks. (1876), 186. Curlewes, or quayles.
3. Applied in comb. or with qualification to other grallatorial birds, as curlew-jack, curlew knot, the Whimbrel, a small species of curlew, Numenius phæops; curlew sandpiper, pigmy curlew, Tringa subarquata; stone curlew, a name for the Norfolk plover (Œdicnemus scolopax), and also for the whimbrel.
1605. in Archæol., XIII. 341. These Foules bee nowe in seasone. Bustarde … Widgeon, Curlewiake.
1678. Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., III. v. xiv. 306. The Stone-Curlew…. The Throat, Neck [etc.] … like that of a Curlew: Whence they of Norfolk call it, The Stone-Curlew.
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1768), II. 379. From a similarity of colors to the Curlew, it [Norfolk Plover] is there called the stone Curlew. Ibid., s.v. Whimbrel, It … visit[s] the neighborhood of Spalding (where it is called the Curlew knot) in vast flocks in April.
1789. G. White, Selborne, xv. (1853), 63. I wonder that the stone curlew should be mentioned by the writers as a rare bird.
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 179, 194.
4. Comb. Curlew-berry, a name given in Labrador to the Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum).
