auk

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“
A few moments later he reappeared, carrying a large bird in his arms The creature which he had thus killed with man's most primitive weapon was a specimen of the great auk--a bird which is now extinct.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun Any of several diving sea birds (family Alcidae) of northern regions, such as the razor-billed auk, having a chunky body, short wings, and webbed feet.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • The booby raised no objection to being a booby, nor the auk to being an auk. —  F ;SF - vol 102 issue 04 - April 2002
  • The lookout dreamed of roasted auk or sweet berries in cups of plaited grass, but saw crumpling waves, lights flickering along the ship rails. —  The Shipping News
  • I grieve for the great auk, virtually wiped out by zealous Viking huntsmen a thousand years ago and finished off by hungry Greenlanders around 1760. —  Asimov'sSF,June2008
  • Local Malagasy people named them for the unique call they send echoing through Madagascar's forests, which sounds like "shif-auk."
  • We have examples in the collection of recent well-known extinctions - the great auk (1844), huia (1907), and the passenger pigeon (1914), and many extinct molluscs and insects that are less well-known. —  New Humanist Podcast
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Norwegian alk, from Old Norse ālka.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Also written awk, English dial. alk, from Icelandic alka, ālka = Swedish alka = Danish alk; later New Latin Alca, q.v.
 

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/ɔk/
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