skua

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“
She showed the skua, a black knob atop of the black blob of his bowlder, apparently fast asleep, invisible if we did not know he was there.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun Any of several large predatory sea birds of the genus Catharacta related to the jaeger, especially the great skua.
  2. noun Chiefly British See jaeger.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

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

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • However, calling is a costly activity in some petrel species since avian predators, such as skuas Catharacta skua lönnbergi, use calls to localize their petrel prey —  PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles
  • On this day, Amundsen was back on the Ice Barrier at 84°26'S observing skua gulls. —  Featured Articles - Encyclopedia of Earth
  • As part of the skua scaring ritual, large bangs are set off and then a runway worker drives a six-wheeled vehicle up and down the runway, swerving towards any remaining birds. —  Reuters: Top News
  • Apart from the Scottish crossbill and the snow bunting, the Arctic skua, Leach's petrel and the common scooter also face extinction by the end of the century. —  British Blogs
  • We also saw a variety of seabirds -- gannet, fulmar, petrel, skua, guillemot and many other kinds of seagull. —  UnderwaterTimes.com News of the Underwater World
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. New Latin, alteration of Faroese *skūvur, from Old Norse skūfr, tassel, seagull.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Shetland skooi, the skua (shooie, schooi, the Arctic gull, Lestris parasiticus), from Norw, skua =Icelandic skūmr, also skūfr, the skua, Stercorarius catarractes. The orig. form is uncertain, and the etymological relation to the like-meaning scout, scouty-aulin, q. v., is not clear.
 

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/ˈskjuə/
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