Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Either of two gray gulls (Rissa tridactyla or R. brevirostris) of northern Atlantic regions, that winter on the open ocean and nest in colonies on sea cliffs.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A gull of the genus Rissa, family Laridæ, having the hind toe unusually short or rudimentary, the wings extremely long, a bill with an acute decurved tip, and peculiarly colored primaries. The common kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla, abounds in the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, nesting in myriads on rocky clilfs, and migrating southward in winter. It is about 17 inches long and 36 in extent of wings. The color of the adult is snow-white, with dark pearl-blne mantle; the primaries are crossed with black, and tipped with white; the bill is yellow, clouded with olive. In the young the bill, a bar on the tail, and patches on the upper parts are black, and the feet are blackish. Also called
white gull and uinter-gull. The red-legged kittiwake, Rissa brevirostris, is a beautiful species, with coral-red bill and feet, inhabiting the North Pacific. Also abbreviated kitty, kittie.
Wiktionary
- n. Either of two small gulls in the genus Rissa of the family Laridae that nest in colonies on sea cliffs and spend the winter on the open ocean.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) A northern gull (Rissa tridactyla), inhabiting the coasts of Europe and America. It is white, with black tips to the wings, and has only three toes.
WordNet 3.0
- n. small pearl-grey gull of northern regions; nests on cliffs and has a rudimentary hind toe
Etymologies
- Perhaps imitative of its cry. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Among the birds of the north the kittiwake is the best builder; for its nest is walled with straw and mud, and is very firm.”
The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II
“Great black-backed gull (Larus marinus) Black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) III”
Management and conservation of marine mammals and seabirds in the Arctic
“A number of arctic marine mammal and bird species are circumpolar, and are represented by several populations and even subspecies (e.g., the bowhead whale, walrus, bearded seal, ringed seal, herring gull (Larus argentatus), glaucous gull (L. hyperboreus), and kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)).”
Management and conservation of marine mammals and seabirds in the Arctic
“Other uncommon species are golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos, redlegged kittiwake Rissa brevirostris (VU), and spotted greenshank Tringa guttifer (EN).”
“But sometimes the soul does come up, shoots like a kittiwake into the light, with ecstasy, after having preyed on the submarine depths.”
“From Bevis arrived a wooden box containing a kittiwake, which he had stuffed himself, with wings outspread.”
“Silent, silent: for neither snort of walrus, nor yelp of fox, nor cry of startled kittiwake, did I hear: but all was still as the jet-black shadow of the cliffs and glacier on the tranquil sea: and many bodies of dead things strewed the surface of the water.”
“Some gulls, however, are able to plunge farther below the surface than others, and the little kittiwake is perhaps the most expert diver of them all, though in no sense at home under water like the shag.”
“She was coming up from the south under jib, foresail, and mainsail; but even as we watched her all her white canvas shut suddenly in, like a kittiwake closing her wings, and we saw the splash of her anchor just under her bowsprit.”
“Not even the cry of a sea-mew or kittiwake broke the almost deathlike stillness, -- no breath of wind stirred a ripple on the glassy water.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘kittiwake’.
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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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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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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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A Peckerwick of Fiffoldry
fogray, whalesong, solregn, shoecabbage, thorn-bush, thistledown, pomander, thornbush, dreamy duskywing, sedge, unbunting-like, quilp and 119 more...
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birds which sound their names
or part of them. I'm a bit sleepy, I think these need checking
kittiwake, chiffchaff, turtle dove, cuckoo, twite, hadeda ibis, crex crex, whippoorwill, peewit, chickadee, chough, knot and 35 more...
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Driftology
Words combed from 'Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author,Who Went in Search of Them.'
driftology, beachcomber, skookum, wrack, jackstraw, driftologist, garbage patch, ghost net, autodumbfoundment, phytoplankton, gyre, hindcast and 58 more...
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Nautical Terms
And I think I shall always need more of these, though the obvious ones can be ignored... give me obscure words I have never heard before, and let me learn them!
wung out, saburrate, tropaean, haurient, shroud, wing-and-wing, studding sail, jetsam, trajectitious, lubbards, mutaine, ait and 17 more...
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birds
oyster-catcher, curlew, chough, stonechat, corncraik, kittiwake, shearwater, fulmar, gannet, corncrake, fieldfare, wren and 4 more...
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Miscellany, pt. k
knismolagnia, knismogenic, kittums, kittle-pins, kittiwake, kittisol, kitty-needy, kinetochore, kindle, kitschig, kalopsia, katzenjammer and 12 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for kittiwake.
bilby I do believe kittycorner needs to be factored into the dictum. Sep 24, 2009
sionnach kittiwake* - mousiessleep
kittisleep - mousiesplay
*: unless, of course, the kittiwake in question is because all nine lives have been used up, in which case mousiespartayallthelivelongday! Sep 24, 2009