eider duck

American  

noun

1. any of several large sea ducks of the genus Soamateria and allied genera of the Northern Hemisphere, the females of which yield eiderdown.

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Etymology

Origin of eider duck

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

Animal life abounded on the frozen bay�flocks of little auks, eider duck, sportive seals and an occasional roving polar bear.

From Time Magazine Archive

The eider duck and the hair seal are disappearing, but on the word of Medical Missionary Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, the country is infested with mice "of many varieties."

From Time Magazine Archive

Their houses were quite small, and the people themselves were dwarfs, who called the eider duck walrus.

From Eskimo Folk-Tales by Worster, W. J. Alexander (William John Alexander)

She was seated in her igloo sewing a garment of eider duck skins, when three rough-looking Chukches entered and, without ceremony, told her by signs that she must accompany them.

From Triple Spies by Snell, Roy J. (Roy Judson)

The down of that pr-rovident bird, the eider duck, makes a substitute for the flesh that ought to pad my poor bones.

From A Tar-Heel Baron by Holloway, Edward Stratton