seagull
Americannoun
noun
-
a popular name for gull 1
-
a casual wharf labourer who is not a trade-union member
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of seagull
Explanation
A seagull is a common, noisy shorebird. If a bird swoops down and steals your French fries as you're walking along the boardwalk, it was probably a seagull. Although the large gray and white birds that follow lobster boats and congregate on beaches are officially called gulls, most people use the colloquial seagull. These sea birds have wide wingspans and webbed feet. They live in large groups and thrive alongside humans, scavenging trash and food waste in addition to eating fish and crustaceans. Described as "opportunistic feeders," seagulls are also highly adept at stealing the fish and chips right off your tray.
Vocabulary lists containing seagull
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A footballer acted on a wing and a prayer when he gave emergency CPR to a seagull after it was hit by a ball during a match in Istanbul this week -- reviving the bird.
From Barron's ● Feb. 24, 2026
The seagull reportedly suffered a damaged wing but it was not immediately clear what happened to it after the match.
From Barron's ● Feb. 24, 2026
The seagull with the bread in his gob was the best of it.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2025
“She really saved my life,” he said of Becker, whose name Bernthal has lovingly tattooed on his forearm, along with the emblem for the Moscow Art Theatre, a seagull in flight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2025
Lyra leaped up, and Pantalaimon became a seagull at once, eager to stretch his wings in the open.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
Other candidates have dressed up as furry animals or seagulls to draw attention to animal rights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
I picked him up at Los Angeles International Airport and took him straight to Zuma Beach for a picnic, where we watched dolphins jumping in the waves while the seagulls stole our potato chips.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
It owes nothing to Chekhov — though there are seagulls — but much to a classically Russian sense of humor and a Chaplinesque ingenuity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
They tend to multiply in the lower respiratory tract, and in their usual hosts, such as ducks and seagulls, they often infect the gut.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 28, 2025
The heraldic sails of Ban’s fleet, and the sailors in the rigging, and the armed turrets and archers and seagulls, like flake-white, had been a background to their conversation.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
