guillemot

American  

[gil-uh-mot] / ˈgɪl əˌmɒt /

noun

1. a black or brown-speckled seabird of the genus Cepphus, of northern seas, having a sharply pointed black bill, red legs, and white wing patches, as C. grylle black guillemot, of the North Atlantic Ocean and the similar C. columba pigeon guillemot of the North Pacific Ocean.

2. British. a murre of the genus Uria.

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guillemot British  

/ ˈɡɪlɪˌmɒt /

noun

1. any northern oceanic diving bird of the genera Uria and Cepphus, having a black-and-white plumage and long narrow bill: family Alcidae (auks, etc), order Charadriiformes

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Etymology

Origin of guillemot

First recorded in 1670–80; from French, apparently diminutive of Guillaume “William”

Example Sentences

Other birds impacted by drones flying too close to the Oregon islands include the common murre, pigeon guillemot, tufted puffin and two types of cormorants.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 2, 2021

In the years that followed, seabirds like the black guillemot started arriving earlier, laying eggs earlier and not surviving as well, he said, blaming warming.

From Washington Times • Jun. 19, 2018

This was my first experience at this type of capturing the guillemot and I remember being a little scared.

From New York Times • May 7, 2018

The extensive collections of early oologists, such as George Lupton, who amassed more than 1,000 guillemot eggs, fascinate Birkhead even as he laments this now illegal and inadmissible practice.

From Nature • Apr. 12, 2016

So he rowed out in his kayak, and caught a guillemot, and a little after, he caught a raven, and having eaten these one after the other, he died.

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