cormorant

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“
The air was crowded with flying gulls When the smoke cleared away we looked for our cormorant, and there he was, perched on the same bald point of rock, coolly preening his black feathers.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun 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.
  2. noun A greedy, rapacious person.
  3. adjective Greedy; rapacious.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

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

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Examples (50)

  • It's a bird, apparently I know what a cormorant is. —  EQMM, May 2005
  • It landed pretty much on top of the cormorant, after which much splashing and wing flapping ensued. —  xenogere
  • I'd like to believe, like cats, the cormorant was enjoying a bit of predator-prey play —  xenogere
  • Do you think I am an ostrich or a cormorant, or that I am going to entertain a party of friends?" —  Capitola's Peril A Sequel to 'The Hidden Hand'
  • He has been at it for hours Loki was a pet cormorant, and Yaspard had taught him to seek food for himself in the voe. —  Viking Boys
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English cormoraunt, from Old French cormorant : corp, raven; see corbel + marenc, of the sea (from Latin marīnus; see marine).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English cormerawnt, from Old French cormoran, cormorande, also corman, French cormoran = Provencal corpmari = Catalan corbmari = Spanish cuervo marino = Portuguese corvomarinho = Italian corvo marino, from Middle Latin corvus marinus, literally sea-crow: see Corvus and marine. The F. spelling appears to have been modified by Bret, morvran (= Welsh morfran), cormorant, literally sea-crow, from mor, sea, + bran, crow.
 

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/ˈkɔrmərənt/
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