Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Sandpiper \Sand"pi`per\, n.
   1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of small limicoline
      game birds belonging to {Tringa}, {Actodromas},
      {Ereunetes}, and various allied genera of the family
      {Tringid[ae]}.

   Note: The most important North American species are the
         pectoral sandpiper ({Tringa maculata}), called also
         {brownback}, {grass snipe}, and {jacksnipe}; the
         red-backed, or black-breasted, sandpiper, or dunlin
         ({T. alpina}); the purple sandpiper ({T. maritima}: the
         red-breasted sandpiper, or knot ({T. canutus}); the
         semipalmated sandpiper ({Ereunetes pusillus}); the
         spotted sandpiper, or teeter-tail ({Actitis
         macularia}); the buff-breasted sandpiper ({Tryngites
         subruficollis}), and the Bartramian sandpiper, or
         upland plover. See under {Upland}. Among the European
         species are the dunlin, the knot, the ruff, the
         sanderling, and the common sandpiper ({Actitis, or
         Tringoides, hypoleucus}), called also {fiddler},
         {peeper}, {pleeps}, {weet-weet}, and {summer snipe}.
         Some of the small plovers and tattlers are also called
         sandpipers.

   2. (Zo["o]l.) A small lamprey eel; the pride.

   {Curlew sandpiper}. See under {Curlew}.

   {Stilt sandpiper}. See under {Stilt}.

Stilt \Stilt\, n. [OE. stilte; akin to Dan. stylte, Sw. stylta,
   LG. & D. stelt, OHG. stelza, G. stelze, and perh. to E.
   stout.]
   1. A pole, or piece of wood, constructed with a step or loop
      to raise the foot above the ground in walking. It is
      sometimes lashed to the leg, and sometimes prolonged
      upward so as to be steadied by the hand or arm.

            Ambition is but avarice on stilts, and masked.
                                                  --Landor.

   2. A crutch; also, the handle of a plow. [Prov. Eng.]
      --Halliwell.

   3. (Zo["o]l.) Any species of limicoline birds belonging to
      {Himantopus} and allied genera, in which the legs are
      remarkably long and slender. Called also {longshanks},
      {stiltbird}, {stilt plover}, and {lawyer}.

   Note: The American species ({Himantopus Mexicanus}) is well
         known. The European and Asiatic stilt ({H. candidus})
         is usually white, except the wings and interscapulars,
         which are greenish black. The white-headed stilt ({H.
         leucocephalus}) and the banded stilt ({Cladorhynchus
         pectoralis}) are found in Australia.

   {Stilt plover} (Zo["o]l.), the stilt.

   {Stilt sandpiper} (Zo["o]l.), an American sandpiper
      ({Micropalama himantopus}) having long legs. The bill is
      somewhat expanded at the tip.