whewer

== English == === Etymology === Century, Wright's English Dialect Dictionary and the 1933 OED take it to be from whew (“(to make) a shrill whistling sound like the cry of a plover”) +‎ -er, and early cites also call the bird the "whistling widgeon". === Pronunciation === (non-rhotic) IPA(key): /hwjuːə/, (without the wine–whine merger) /ʍjuːə/ (rhotic) IPA(key): /hwjuːɚ/, (without the wine–whine merger) /ʍjuːɚ/ === Noun === whewer (plural whewers) (UK, dialect) whew duck, Eurasian wigeon, wigeon (Mareca penelope). 1634, Althorp MS. in Simpkinson, Washingtons (1860), page xxiii: Peckards 3—broadbills 5—whewers 2 1668, Charleton, Onomast., page 100: Boscas, aliis Anas Fistularis [...] the Whewer, or Whistling Widgeon. === References === “whewer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “whewer”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Whewer”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC. Joseph Wright, editor (1905), “WHEW”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume VI (T–Z, Supplement, Bibliography and Grammar), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.