Definition of "thick-knee" [thick•-knee]

• Any of various widely distributed, chiefly nocturnal, curlewlike shore birds of the family Burhinidae, having large heads, large yellow eyes, and knobby leg joints. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Near here are two curious sorts of nests -- one the Norfolk plover, or, as he is called, thick-knee; the eggs are just laid on the sand, and are so much the same colours as the speckled stones around that you have to look hard to find them, and at a little distance they seem to vanish altogether."
• "The By Bill Fenimore Special to The TribuneUpdated: 03/16/2010 12: 24: 07 PM MDT Bewick's wren (Paul Higgins) Thryomanes bewickii The Bewick's wren is widespread in the West Asian desert warbler and the Eurasian thick-knee have been found in the Bab Al Shams desert recently."