Forms: 1 hléapewince, 4 lhapwynche, 4–7 lapwinge, -wynge, lap-, lappewin(c)ke, -wynke, (4 leepwynke, 5 lapwinch, -wynche, 7 -winc(k)le), 4– lapwing. Also 6 LAPPOINT. [OE. hléapewince, str. fem., f. hleápan to leap + *winc- to totter, waver (so OHG. winkan, MHG. winken, also to wink; cf. OE. wincian to wink. The bird was named from the manner of its flight. The current form is in part due to popular etymology, which connected the word with LAP v.2 and WING sb. (see quot. 1617).] A well-known bird of the plover family, Vanellus vulgaris or cristatus, common in the temperate parts of the Old World. Called also PEWIT, from its peculiar cry. Its eggs are the ‘plovers’ eggs’ of the London markets. Allusions are frequent to its crested head, to its wily method of drawing away a visitor from its nest, and to the notion that the newly hatched lapwing runs about with its head in the shell.
c. 1050. Ags. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 260/2. Cucu, hleapewince.
1340. Ayenb., 61. Hy byeþ ase þe lhapwynche þet ine velþe of man makeþ his nest.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 329. A lappewinke has lost his feith And is the brid falsest of alle.
c. 1430. Lydg., Temple of Glass, 495 + 21. Had In dispit, ryght as a-mong foulys Ben Iayis, Pyis, Lapwyngis & these Oulys.
a. 1529. Skelton, P. Sparowe, 430. [They] With puwyt the lapwyng, The versycles shall syng.
c. 1532. Du Wes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 911. The lapwyng, le uaniau.
1569. J. Sanford, trans. Agrippa’s Van. Arts, 137 b. The Lapwinke … seemeth to haue some royall thinge, and weareth a crowne.
1592. Greene, Art Conny Catching, II. 4. Who … cry with the Lapwing farthest from their nest.
1602. Shaks., Ham., V. ii. 192. This Lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.
1606. Sir G. Goosecappe, I. i. in Bullen, O. Pl., III. 9. As fearefull as a Haire, and will lye like a Lapwing.
1617. Minsheu, Ductor, a Lappe-wing, q. leapwing, because he lappes or clappes the wings so often.
a. 1628. F. Greville, Sidney (1652), 204. Like Lapwings with the shels of authority about their necks.
1633. T. Stafford, Pac. Hib., II. iii. (1810), 239. And left the Wood with the Lapwings policie; that they being busied in pursuite of them, the other might remaine secure within that Fastnesse.
1786. Burns, Afton Water, ii. Thou green-crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear.
1842. Tennyson, Locksley Hall, 18. In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest.
1876. Smiles, Sc. Natur., xiii. (ed. 4), 260. You could now hear … the pleasant peewit of the Lapwing.
b. attrib. and Comb., as in lapwing stratagem, lapwing-like adv.; lapwing-gull (see quot. 1844).
1638. Brathwait, Spir. Spicerie, 406. Lapwing-like, with shell on head, I begun to write, before my yeares could well make mee an Author.
1669. Dryden, Tyrannic Love, IV. i. Your guilt dares not approach what it would hide; But draws me off, and (lapwing-like) flies wide.
1676. in Hist. Northfield (Mass.) (1875), 86. Be careful not to be deceived by their lapwing stratagems, by drawing you off from the rest to follow some men.
1844. W. H. Maxwell, Sports & Adv. Scotl. (1855), 326. The Laughing Gull … or Black Head … has been called ‘peewit’ or ‘lapwing gull.’
