Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A seal.
- n. [capitalized] [NL.] A genus of Phocidæ or seals, formerly coextensive at least, with the family, now restricted to the section which is represented by the common harbor-seal, P. vitulina, and a few closely related species. See seal, and cut under harp-seal.
Wiktionary
- n. A seal.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) A genus of seals. It includes the common harbor seal and allied species. See seal.
WordNet 3.0
- n. type genus of the Phocidae: earless seals
Etymologies
- From Latin phoca, from Ancient Greek φώκη. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Then returning, half-smiling at his own pettishness, he said, ` ` Get thee into the house, Edie, and remember my counsel, never speak to me about a mine, nor to my nephew Hector about a phoca, that is”
“Hector about a phoca, that is a sealgh, as you call it.””
“Next evening, as he was returning home by the strand, he spied a male and female phoca sprawling on a rock a few yards out at sea.”
“Yet why should not the solemn visaged, double-chinned phoca partake of one of the most universal habits of animal life -- the love of frolic?”
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 367, April 25, 1829
“He was with difficulty appeased, but I saw he never forgot the dead horse, any more than the Antiquary's nephew the "phoca or seal.”
The Autobiography of Liuetenant-General Sir Harry Smith, Baronet of Aliwal on the Sutlej, G. C. B.
“I may remind English readers that [Greek] (i.e. phoca) means "seal.”
“I saw him to-day engage in an animated contest with a phoca, or seal (sealgh, our people more properly call them, retaining the Gothic guttural gh), with as much vehemence as if he had fought against Dumourier”
“` ` My uncle is the best man in the world, and in his way the kindest; but rather than hear any more about that cursed phoca, as he is pleased to call it, I would exchange for the”
“` ` The devil take the seal, sir, or phoca, if you choose to call it so!”
“Nay, never start off at a jest, man --- I have done with the _phoca_ --- though, I dare say, the”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘phoca’.
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bilby's Words
pandemic, whirl, guffaw, ethereal, feisty, dunt, ephemeral, pule, flipergebet, prink, maunder, gammon and 1023 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for phoca.
sionnach As the Thpanish thay, 'que foca!', for a lady with a tendency toward embonpoint. Sep 20, 2009
bilby
Then, with so swift an ebb the flood drove backward,
It slipt from underneath the scaly herd:
Here monstrous phocæ panted on the shore;
- John Dryden, 'All for Love'. Sep 20, 2009