Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A common name in the United States of terns or sea-swallows, from the forked tail. Such species as Sterna hirundo, S. forsteri, S. macrura, etc., are known by this name.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Every Cape man has a theory about George's Bank having been an island once, and in their accounts they gradually reduce the shallowness from six, five, four, two fathoms, to somebody's confident assertion that he has seen a mackerel-gull sitting on a piece of dry land there.
Cape Cod 1865
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