Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several large, widely distributed marine diving birds of the genus Phalacrocorax, having dark plumage, webbed feet, a slender hooked bill, and a distensible pouch.
- n. A greedy, rapacious person.
- adj. Greedy; rapacious.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A large totipalmate swimming and diving bird of the family Phalacrocoracidæ (which see for technical characters). There are about 25 species, of all parts of the world, much resembling one another, and all usually comprised in the single genus Phalacrocorax. They are mostly maritime, but some inhabit fresh waters; they are gregarious, and in the breeding season some species congregate by thousands to breed on rocky ledges over the sea, or in swamps, building a rude bulky nest, and laying from 1 to 3 whole-colored greenish eggs coated with a white chalky substance. Their principal food is flsh, and their voracity is proverbial. The common cormorant of America, Europe, and Asia, Phalacrocorax carbo, which may be taken as the type of the whole, is about 3 feet long and 5 in extent, with a heavy body, long sinuous neck, a stout hooked bill about as long as the head, a naked gular pouch, stout strong wings, and 14 stiff tail-feathers denuded to the bases. The color is lustrous black, bronzed on the back, where the feathers have black edges; the feet are black; in the breeding season there is a white flank-patch; and on the head are scattered white thready plumes. The same or a similar species is domesticated by the Chinese and Japanese and taught to flsh. A smaller species, the crested cormorant, P. cristatus, is found in Europe, and is known as the shag, a name also used for cormorants at large. The commonest North American species is the double-crested cormorant, P. dilophus, having only 12 tail-feathers (the number usual in the genus), the gular sac convex behind, and a crest on each side of the head. The Florida cormorant, which breeds by thousands in the mangrove swamps, is a variety of the last. On the Pacific coast of the United States several other species occur, as the violet-green cormorant (P. violaceus), the red-faced (P. bicristatus), the tufted (P. penicillatus), and others. The Mexican cormorant, P. mexicanus, is a small species which extends into the United States. A few species are largely white, and others are spotted.
- n. A greedy fellow; a glutton.
- n. A very avaricious person; a miser; a curmudgeon.
- Having the qualities of a cormorant; greedy; rapacious; insatiable.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of various medium-large black seabirds of the family Phalacrocoracidae, especially the great cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo.
- n. A voracious eater; a glutton.
- adj. Ravenous, greedy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) Any species of Phalacrocorax, a genus of sea birds having a sac under the beak; the shag. Cormorants devour fish voraciously, and have become the emblem of gluttony. They are generally black, and hence are called
sea ravens , andcoalgeese . - n. A voracious eater; a glutton, or gluttonous servant.
WordNet 3.0
- n. large voracious dark-colored long-necked seabird with a distensible pouch for holding fish; used in Asia to catch fish
Etymologies
- From Old French cormaran (modern cormoran), from mediaeval Latin corvus marinus ‘sea-raven’. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English cormoraunt, from Old French cormorant : corp, raven; see corbel + marenc, of the sea (from Latin marīnus; see marine). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“When we finally struck the long-sought for pools there were no duck, leastwise, but two, and some snake-birds, as they call a cormorant here that has a neck like an”
“The cormorant is a common visitor to our beach staging area.”
“The cormorant is a species of pelican, of a dusky color: it is sometimes called the sea crow.”
“The cormorant is a large black duck which feeds on fish; I perceive no difference between it”
Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806
“The cormorant is a shore bird often effected by oil spills.”
“Apparently they are wide ranging, and the double-crested cormorant, which is probably what these were, has one of the widest range and greatest adaptability of any North American cormorant.”
“I was able to recognize "cormorant" due to the unique shape of their beaks and moderate size big to anybody who just sees pigeons,crows and fincheson a daily basis.”
“So, I am occasionally tempted to check eBay to see what kind of cormorant item are being offerred for sale.”
“But there are some faults that permeate and soak through a man's whole character, as in the Cornish _squab pie_, where an excellent pasty of bacon, potatoes, and other agreeable commodities is penetrated throughout with the oily flavour of a young cormorant which is popped in at the top just before the pie is baked.”
“cormorant" in the Authorized Version of Isa. 34: 11 and Zeph.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cormorant’.
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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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Which see
A list of words with definitions containing the phrase "which see."
moteur, fancy, grass, frog, Art, illusion, battleship, duck, beaver, Seder, clam, zythiaceæ and 118 more...
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LIT - Odyssey - key words and phrases
Key words of the Odyssey by Homer in English including all those famous repeating epitethons like
"bright-eyed Athene"
"wine-dark sea"
"rosy-fingered dawn"
"long suf...Odysseus, sea, Athene, goddess, land, Achaean, wind, wave, Ithaca, lead, Poseidon, mortal and 732 more...
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utopia
Words used in the book utopia by sir thomas more
credence, proverb, provost, dissimulation, espy, neologism, vouchsafe, liberality, weal, inquisitive, assentation, verily and 21 more...
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Creatures of My Town 2
Critters observed by me in and around Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Native wildlife only.
corella, pademelon, swift parrot, Pacific gull, kookaburra, silver gull, black swan, bettong, pied oystercatcher, cormorant, possum, green rosella
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Technical characters
Being a list of words with "technical characters" in their definitions.
skunk, badger, cormorant, kangaroo, diodontoidea, serpent, stork, mole, opossum, crow, pigeon, toucan and 14 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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Scriptie: Master and Commander
Nice ambient words from the movie. (With apologies to Patrick O'Brian.) Aaaah, life at sea...aboard a hulk of the British navy in 1805...
surprise, acheron, guns, souls, oceans, battlefields, prize, burn, sink, privateer, hammock, lantern and 118 more...
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wreckingball's Words
reprehensible, problematize, crepuscular, deleterious, pestilent, strumpet, draggletail, interrobang, meretricious, systematize, schadenfreude, capricious and 443 more...
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Flightful Forays
trips from El Nido
vireo, tanager, scaup, lark, killdear, falcon, cormorant, becard, avocet, accipiter, peregrine, remex and 135 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Dictionary.com Words of the Days of 2000
1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008
segue, palimpsest, bête noire, farrago, expatiate, nadir, protean, fulsome, constitutional, quondam, sinecure, vainglory and 324 more...
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Papageno's Words, Pt. I
hobbledehoy, absquatulate, chthonic, prolix, ululate, internecine, verisimilitude, animadversion, concupiscence, vertiginous, cucullate, lucubrate and 1554 more...
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fbharjo's Words
jumelle, kef, kenspeckle, lautitious, essentic, pilpulistic, impavid, cicurant, clou, chrysostomic, miasma, teleology and 1625 more...
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ifjuly's list
favorite words. some are made up injokes between me and my husband or family.
skein, zaftig, july, bed, orifice, aesthete, ink, parce-que, desormais, cake, pusillanimous, pulse and 531 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cormorant.

hernesheir See brongie. May 10, 2011
madmouth one of Gargantua's experimental wipebreeches May 21, 2009
reesetee Oh, don't worry--I wasn't directing that comment at you, Jingle. :-) Mar 17, 2009
jinglebelljosie lol; maybe you're right, reesetee...Don't look at me, though! It was dictionary.com, I tell you! (They're prejudice against Phalacrocoracidae). Mar 17, 2009
reesetee Unfair to cormorants! Mar 17, 2009
jinglebelljosie 2. A gluttonous, greedy, or rapacious person. (from Dictionary.com) Mar 16, 2009