Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several dark-gray aquatic birds of the genus Fulica of North America and Europe, having a black head and neck, lobed toes, and a white bill.
- n. See scoter.
- n. Informal An eccentric or crotchety person, especially an eccentric old man.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A lobiped grallatorial and natatorial bird, of the genus Fulica and family Rallidæ, having the toes broadly lobate, the culmen of the bill extended on the front as a boss or casque, short wings, a very short, cocked-up tail, or bobtail, and thick and duck-like plumage on the under surface of the body. In the coots the body is more depressed than in the rails and gallinules, their nearest relatives. They swim with ease, build a large coarse nest of reeds and rank herbage by the water's edge, and lay numerous creamy eggs spotted in dark colors. There are 12 or more species, of most parts of the world, much resembling one another, all being blackish or slate-colored, and about 15 inches long. The common or bald coot of Europe is F. atra; that of America is F. americana, sometimes called
shuffler . The flesh is edible. - n. The foolish guillemot, Lomviatroile.
- n. A scoter; one of the large black sea-ducks of the genera (Edemia, Pelionetta, and Melanetta. The black scoter, (Edemia americana, is called
black coot , and the velvet scoter, Melanetta fusca velvetina, is the white-winged coot. - n. A simpleton; a silly fellow.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of various aquatic birds of the genus Fulica that are mainly black with a prominent frontal shield on the forehead.
- n. colloquial A stupid fellow; a simpleton
- n. slang, with the A success; something excellent.
- n. slang Body louse.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A wading bird with lobate toes, of the genus Fulica. The common European or bald coot is Fulica atra (see under bald); the American is Fulica Americana
- n. The surf duck or scoter. In the United States all the species of (Œdemia are called coots. See scoter.
- n. colloq. A stupid fellow; a simpleton.
WordNet 3.0
- n. slate-black slow-flying birds somewhat resembling ducks
Etymologies
- Middle English coote, possibly from Middle Dutch coet. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A recent study reveals that a species of American bird known as the coot is capable of counting their clutch size, and can tell the difference between "parisitic" eggs and their own.”
“As a member of my own party, this old coot is nothing but a whiner, poser and good for nothing fake. gt”
“Breeding bird species include Palaearctic marsh birds such as coot Fulica atra and moorhen Gallinula chloropus, as well as a relict sub-species of Barbary partridge Alectoris barbara duprezii.”
“The "Lootenant" that is leading is a leery kind of coot -”
“Cheney made Mr. Potter look like a lovable old coot.”
“Happy birthday you old coot ... wait a minute I'm beginging to resemble that remark myself!”
“Or how does a penguin or a coot or a goose find a mating partner, even though the males are hardly distinguishable from the females?”
“Besides, there are advantages to having your bedroom next to a deaf old coot.”
“I was packing heat and as that old coot in Texas can attest, I'm not afraid to use it.”
“Among the swayed is Ed Asner, who is no less easy to impress than Carl, the squat and stolid 78-year-old coot he speaks for in Up. I got the job and thought, 'OK, I'm going to do a voice-over in a big-time feature.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘coot’.
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animals (1 syllable)
A list of common animal names. Keep the list to 1 syllable words.No scientific names. No proper names like 'Fluffy' the elephant.Insects and other creatures (even ficticious) are welcome!You can ...
dog, cat, bear, bee, ass, ape, horse, squid, bug, hare, hawk, pig and 138 more...
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birds
birds with singular names from
at least 9 English dictionariesaasvogel, aberdevine, accentor, accipiter, aepyornis, agami, albatross, alcatras, alcid, alcidine, amadavat, amokura and 1056 more...
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You animal!
Names of animals that are also used to describe kinds of people. Nouns only, preferably single word.
For a related list, see sionnach's beastly verbs.rabbit, shark, hog, pussycat, bear, bull, skunk, hawk, wildcat, buck, slug, heifer and 112 more...
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funny & derogatory
WARNING: VERY EXPLICIT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
funny derogatory names, quotes, phrases.
( open list, randomness, ad hom, ad hominem )
also see:
buttfucking quitter, dirty sanchez, donkey punch, falcon punch, assbadger, unicorn turd, assclown, fudgenut, quackery, friggin homo, buttmuncher, jackwagon and 271 more... -
Surprising four-letter words
I imagine most of these will be Anglo-Saxon, not likely to crop up in the average day's conversation, and thus excellent for Scrabble. ("most" is too common, likewise "will" and even "crop", in an...
blet, quim, clit, buff, sire, wiki, blog, loam, waft, heft, mare, lilt and 68 more...
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More Bird Wirds: North America
Birds endemic to the United States and/or North America.
toucan, peacock, weaver, bullfinch, redpoll, siskin, crossbill, finch, rosy-finch, oriole, cowbird, blackbird and 213 more...
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Animals (besides pottos)
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robin, wagtail, frog, bunny, pronk, rabbit, fur, badger, mouse, bee, crepuscular, purr and 140 more...
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LWC's Words
spork, heteroskedasticity, kurtosis, eigenspace, smithian, skewness, montanan, whoremonger, mellifluous, fishwife, papist, romanist and 142 more...
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Learned
ambergris, andiron, aphelion, austral, bellicose, boreal, bravura, chaff, chicanery, creditable, credulous, decamp and 223 more...
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Dr. Jamieson's Birds
A rich list of Scottish bird (nick)names and related terms cited in Dr. Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary and Supplement, 1841.
stone-chatter, clocharet, bowger, coulter-neb, branchers, brissel-cock, turkey-cock, brongie, bubblyjock, polliecock, bullfit, bullfrench and 220 more...
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Time for a new list!
abrupt, erupt, rupture, sync, appropinquity, heterochromia, homochromatic, monochromatic, willy nilly, nitty gritty, kowtow, wonton and 455 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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sarahatlee's Words
pants, nekkid, schadenfreude, unseasonably, illicit, glaswegian, cripes, futz, drawers, scupper, coulrophobic, redacted and 254 more...
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fearraigh's Words
heretofore, seldom, cunt, calamity, overhead, phalanx, flunky, factotum, terrestrial, dormant, afflatus, periphery and 156 more...
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End in -ot
Just what it says. Words that end in -ot.
wainscot, ascot, marmot, jot, ocelot, spot, blot, scot, lot, shot, dot, snot and 219 more...
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Kaichi's Wordie Darlings, or I'm a Lo...
persnickety, discombobulated, braggadoccio, anthropomorphous, antelucan, confluxible, anomalous, poseur, gallivant, poppycock, falderal, gewgaw and 705 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for coot.

hernesheir A name given to the guillemot. --Dr. Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary and Supplement, 1841. May 10, 2011
bristolcopywriter Received this in the title to a delightful spam e-mail message, used as a decoy word I presume. It said "Future? wigeon, coot".
Also used to name a hotel suite in Four Pillars, Gloucestershire. Since it can be also used in the derogatory combination 'old coot' (referring to a woman past middle age), this didn't strike me as enticing. Feb 18, 2010
johnmperry Usually have few feathers on their heads - "as bald as a coot". Jun 17, 2008