plover

noun

plo·​ver ˈplə-vər  ˈplō- 

plural plover or plovers

1

: any of a family (Charadriidae) of shorebirds that differ from the sandpipers in having a short hard-tipped bill and usually a stouter more compact build

2

: any of various birds (such as a turnstone or sandpiper) related to the plovers

Examples of plover in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Bennett went online and quickly turned up a video of modern plovers pecking into the ground, hunting for food. —Amanda Schupak, CNN Money, 25 Apr. 2025

Restoring Native Grasslands to Help Birds Olivia Box July 15, 2021 Grassland birds, such as the prairie chicken, plover, and bobolink, need a complex environment of varying structure, area, and grass types. —The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 22 Apr. 2025

By the numbers: In the past 50 years, Colorado species like the mountain plover and Baird's sparrow have seen population crashes over 67%, per the North American Bird Conservation Initiative's 2025 State of the Birds report. —Alayna Alvarez, Axios, 31 Mar. 2025

Wild birds like ducks, geese, swans, storks, plovers, sandpipers, gulls and terns are all susceptible to bird flu. —Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 24 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French plover, pluvier, from Vulgar Latin *pluviarius, from Latin pluvia rain — more at pluvial

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing plover

• golden plover
• piping plover
• snowy plover

Rhymes for plover

• cover
• hover
• discover
• hardcover
• recover
• thereover
• uncover
• rediscover
• undercover

Kids Definition

plover

noun

plo·​ver ˈplə-vər  ˈplō-vər 

plural plover or plovers

: any of numerous shorebirds differing from the related sandpipers in having shorter bills