cormorant
[kawr-mer-uh nt]
- any of several voracious, totipalmate seabirds of the family Phalacrocoracidae, as Phalacrocorax carbo, of America, Europe, and Asia, having a long neck and a distensible pouch under the bill for holding captured fish, used in China for catching fish.
- a greedy person.
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Origin of cormorant
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cormorant
Historical Examples
It was a horrible, a brutal business, a thing he had not foreseen on board the Cormorant.
The Wild GeeseStanley John Weyman
The birds comprise a darter, a cormorant, a guillemot, and a penguin.
Law is a bottomless pit; it is a cormorant, a harpy, that devours everything.
The History of John BullJohn Arbuthnot
For a few seconds the skipper of the Cormorant could not utter a word.
The Lively PollR.M. Ballantyne
In another part of that fleet, not far distant, floated the Cormorant.
The Lively PollR.M. Ballantyne
cormorant
- any aquatic bird of the family Phalacrocoracidae, of coastal and inland waters, having a dark plumage, a long neck and body, and a slender hooked beak: order Pelecaniformes (pelicans, etc)
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French cormareng, from corp raven, from Latin corvus + -mareng of the sea, from Latin mare sea
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for cormorant
n.
early 14c., from Old French cormarenc (12c., Modern French cormoran), from Late Latin corvus marinus "sea raven" + Germanic suffix -enc, -ing. The -t in English probably is from confusion with words in -ant. It has a reputation for voracity.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper