auk

[ awk ]

/ ɔk /

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noun

any of several usually black-and-white diving birds of the family Alcidae, of northern seas, having webbed feet and small wings.

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Compare great auk, razor-billed auk.

Origin of auk

1665–75; <Scandinavian; compare Old Norse alka

Words nearby auk

Augustinian, Augustinian of the Assumption, Augustus, Augustus Caesar, au jus, auk, auklet, au lait, Aulard, auld, auld lang syne

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use auk in a sentence

The great auk is but a memory; the bittern booms more rarely in our eastern marshes; and now they tell me Brigadiers are extinct.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 158, April 28, 1920|Various
"You are already celebrated as the discoverer of the mammoth and the great auk," she persisted.
In Search of the Unknown|Robert W. Chambers
When that day comes, proprietary humbugs like Sanatogen will have become as extinct as the dodo and the great auk.
The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 1 of 2|Various
Paralyzed be th' boldness iv th' wolf, th' camel an' th' auk fled fr'm th' scene iv havoc, as is their wont.
Mr. Dooley Says|Finley Dunne

Thirty years ago we knew as little of the ways of the ward boss as we knew of the megatherium or the great auk.
The Old World in the New|Edward Alsworth Ross

British Dictionary definitions for auk

auk

/ (ɔːk) /

noun

any of various diving birds of the family Alcidae of northern oceans having a heavy body, short tail, narrow wings, and a black-and-white plumage: order CharadriiformesSee also great auk, razorbill auk

little auk or dovekie a small short-billed auk, Plautus alle, abundant in Arctic regions

Word Origin for auk

C17: from Old Norse ālka; related to Swedish alka, Danish alke

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012