harp seal

American  

noun

1. a northern earless seal, Pagophilus groenlandicus, with pale-yellow fur darkening to gray with age, of coasts, drifting ice, and seas of the North Atlantic Ocean, hunted for its fur.

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harp seal British  

noun

1. a brownish-grey earless seal, Pagophilus groenlandicus, of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans

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Etymology

Origin of harp seal

First recorded in 1775–85; so called from the harplike shape of markings on the backs of adults

Example Sentences

By day, the sun danced across an icescape dotted with harp seal mothers and pups with cloud-soft fur, obsidian eyes, and charcoal noses.

From National Geographic • Jan. 23, 2024

The act protects the harp seal throughout its range, including the North Atlantic and Artic oceans and the waters off New England.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 6, 2023

Huckleberry Finn joins Amelia Bedelia, a harp seal rescued from Ocean City, and Pippi Longstocking, a gray seal pup rescued from Dewey Beach, Del., at the aquarium.

From Washington Post • Mar. 14, 2020

Roboticists have taken this idea several steps further with the creation of therapeutic robots like Paro the baby harp seal and Huggable the robot teddy bear.

From Slate • Jan. 15, 2016

They had caught an old harp seal, and he ate its flesh and drank its blood.

From Grenfell: Knight-Errant of the North by Waldo, Fullerton