great auk

American  

noun

1. a large, flightless auk, Pinguinus impennis, of rocky islands off North Atlantic coasts: extinct since 1844.

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great auk British  

noun

1. a large flightless auk, Pinguinus impennis, extinct since the middle of the 19th century

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Etymology

Origin of great auk

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

great auk

Along with the passenger pigeon we exterminated the great auk, the Carolina parakeet, the Labrador duck and the ivory-billed woodpecker.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026

The last confirmed sighting off a great auk took place on an island off Iceland, in 1844, but it’s likely that stray birds lived on for years, even decades.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 30, 2014

They could only have belonged to the great auk, everyone assumed, and soon journalists were taking plaster castings and birders were camping on the beach.

From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2013

“Once There Were Billions: Vanished Birds of North America” An exhibition of specimens and illustrations of extinct birds includes the passenger pigeon, heath hen, great auk and Carolina parakeet.

From Washington Post

I named it Auk I, after the great auk, an extinct bird that couldn’t fly.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam