pelican
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a pelican
English
Alternative forms
- pelecan (archaic)
Etymology
From Middle English pellican, pellicane, from Old English pellican (“pelican”), from Latin pelecānus, from Ancient Greek πελεκάν (pelekán), πέλεκυς (pélekus, “hatchet”).
Pronunciation
Noun
pelican (plural pelicans)
- Any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae, having a long bill with a distendable pouch.
- 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter III, in Romance and Reality. , volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, , →OCLC, page 54:
- The old have outlived that mental world we so misname in calling it a world of enjoyment;—they have outlived the feverish dreams which waste those keen hopes—the pelicans of the heart, feeding on the life-blood of their parent;—they have now no part in the excitement of success, whether in its desire or disappointment.
- 1981, Gene Wolfe, chapter VIII, in The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun; 2), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 71:
- Pelicans fly below us with stiffly formal strokes, and gulls wheel and keen.
- A native or resident of the American state of Louisiana.
- (chemistry, obsolete) A retort or still having a curved tube or tubes leading back from the head to the body for continuous condensation and redistillation.
- (dentistry) A set of forceps used to force overcrowded teeth apart.
- Synonym: dental pelican
Derived terms
Translations
any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae
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Anagrams
Friulian
Noun
pelican m (plural pelicans)
Middle English
Noun
pelican
- Alternative form of pellican
Occitan
Etymology
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Noun
pelican m (plural pelicans)
- pelican (any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae)
Derived terms
Romanian
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from French pélican, from Latin pelicānus. Compare Aromanian pilican.
Pronunciation
Noun
pelican m (plural pelicani)
- pelican (any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae)
Declension
| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | ||
| nominative-accusative | pelican | pelicanul | pelicani | pelicanii | |
| genitive-dative | pelican | pelicanului | pelicani | pelicanilor | |
| vocative | pelicanule | pelicanilor | |||
Derived terms
Related terms
See also
References
- pelican in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)
Welsh
Etymology
Borrowed from English pelican.
Noun
pelican m (plural pelicanod)
- pelican (seabird of the family Pelecanidae)
- Synonym: pelig
Derived terms
- croesfan pelican (“pelican crossing”)
- pelican Dalmatia (“Dalmatian pelican”)
- pelican gwyn (“great white pelican”)
- pelican gwyn America (“American white pelican”)