pelican

See also: pélican

English

a pelican

Etymology

From Middle English pellican, pellicane, from Old English pellican (pelican), from Latin pelecānus, from Ancient Greek πελεκάν (pelekán), πέλεκυς (pélekus, hatchet).

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈpɛl.ɪ.kən/, /ˈpɛl.ə.kən/
  • (file)

Noun

pelican (plural pelicans)

  1. Any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae, having a long bill with a distendable pouch.
    • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. [], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, [], OCLC 24531354, 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.
  2. A native or resident of the American state of Louisiana.
  3. (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.
  4. (dentistry) A set of forceps used to force overcrowded teeth apart.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams


Friulian

Noun

pelican m (plural pelicans)

  1. pelican

Middle English

Noun

pelican

  1. Alternative form of pellican

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin pelicānus.

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Noun

pelican m (plural pelicans)

  1. 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

  • IPA(key): /pe.liˈkan/

Noun

pelican m (plural pelicani)

  1. pelican (any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae)

Declension

Derived terms

  • pelecaniforme

See also

  • steganipod

References

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