资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Snipe \Snipe\, n. [OE. snipe; akin to D. snep, snip, LG. sneppe,
   snippe, G. schnepfe, Icel. sn[=i]pa (in comp.), Dan. sneppe,
   Sw. sn["a]ppa a sanpiper, and possibly to E. snap. See
   {Snap}, {Snaffle}.]
   1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of limicoline game
      birds of the family {Scolopacid[ae]}, having a long,
      slender, nearly straight beak.

   Note: The common, or whole, snipe ({Gallinago c[oe]lestis})
         and the great, or double, snipe ({G. major}), are the
         most important European species. The Wilson's snipe
         ({G. delicata}) (sometimes erroneously called English
         snipe) and the gray snipe, or dowitcher ({Macrohamphus
         griseus}), are well-known American species.

   2. A fool; a blockhead. [R.] --Shak.

   {Half snipe}, the dunlin; the jacksnipe.

   {Jack snipe}. See {Jacksnipe}.

   {Quail snipe}. See under {Quail}.

   {Robin snipe}, the knot.

   {Sea snipe}. See in the Vocabulary.

   {Shore snipe}, any sandpiper.

   {Snipe hawk}, the marsh harrier. [Prov. Eng.]

   {Stone snipe}, the tattler.

   {Summer snipe}, the dunlin; the green and the common European
      sandpipers.

   {Winter snipe}. See {Rock snipe}, under {Rock}.

   {Woodcock snipe}, the great snipe.

资料来源 : WordNet®

half snipe
     n : a small short-billed Old World snipe [syn: {jacksnipe}, {Limnocryptes
         minima}]