to live like a plover
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To live on nothing, to live on air. Plovers, however, live on small insects and worms, which they hunt for in newly ploughed fields.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to live like a plover” mean?
To live on nothing, to live on air. Plovers, however, live on small insects and worms, which they hunt for in newly ploughed fields.
Is “to live like a plover” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.