Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various fish-eating diving ducks of the genus Mergus or related genera, having a slim hooked bill. Also called sheldrake.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A bird of the genus Mergus or subfamily Merginǣ; family Anatidæ; a sawbill, garbill, or fishing-duck. A merganser resembles aduck, but has a cylindrical instead of a depressed bill, with a hooked nail at the end, and a serration of very prominent back-set teeth. Several species are among the common water-fowls of the northern hemisphere. The common merganser or goosander, Mergus merganser or Merganser castor, is about 2 feet long, and nearly 3 in extent of wings. In the male the upper parts are glossy-black varied with white on the wings, the lower parts white tinged with salmon-color, the head and neck glossy dark-green like adrake's, and the bill and feet coral- or vermilion-red. The head is slightly crested. The red-breasted merganser, M. serrator, is a similar but somewhat smaller bird, with a reddish breast and the head more decidedly crested. The hooded merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus, is still smaller, black and white, with a beautiful erect semicircular crest. A South American species, distinct from any of the foregoing, is Mergus branliensis.
- n. [capitalized] A genus of Merginæ same as Mergus.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of various diving ducks of the genus Mergus or Lophodytes, which feed on fish and have a sharply serrated bill.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Any bird of the genus Mergus (Merganser), and allied genera of the subfamily Merginae. They are allied to the ducks, but have a sharply serrated bill, eat fish, and dive for food. Also called
fish duck .
WordNet 3.0
- n. large crested fish-eating diving duck having a slender hooked bill with serrated edges
Etymologies
- New Latin : Latin mergus, diver (from mergere, to plunge) + Latin ānser, goose; see ghans- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Well -- it's called a merganser in the books," said Mr. Kincaid.”
“Real chefs like a challenge, so when I walked through the door I'd have a common merganser on my duck strap.”
“Hahaha, when I was reading the article I was thinking the same thing: Make it a challenge, take merganser!”
“At a sale hosted by Christie's in New York in 2007, a record $856,000 was paid for a red-breasted merganser hen made in the 1870s by famed carver Lothrop Holmes, who worked as a cemetery superintendent in Massachusetts.”
The Wall Street Journal: Decoy Market, After Decline, Tests Its Wings
“Brazilian merganser, Mergus octosetaceus, photographed in Brasil, South America.”
The Guardian: Mystery bird: Brazilian merganser, Mergus octosetaceus
“Response: This is an adult female Brazilian merganser, Mergus octosetaceus, with her newly-hatched chicks in tow one is riding on her back.”
The Guardian: Mystery bird: Brazilian merganser, Mergus octosetaceus
“This stamp by Albert Gilbert shows a hooded merganser.”
“A strong wind is pushing the surface water inland against the direction of the sea's retreat and the farther channel is specked with whitecaps among which the only bird currently visible – a merganser – bobs unconcernedly.”
“It is when I pick up binoculars to follow its progress that I realise the rocks past which the merganser is now being carried are covered with seals.”
“Ever since the afternoon, I had been waiting for her to say something about the hooded merganser—how that bird was so fiercely devoted to her baby, and here I was, planning to flush mine.”
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