old squaw

American  

Or oldsquaw

noun

1. a sea duck, Clangula hyemalis, of Arctic and subarctic regions.

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old squaw British  

noun

1. Also called: oldwife.  a long-tailed northern sea duck, Clangula hyemalis, having dark wings and a white-and-brown head and body

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Etymology

Origin of old squaw

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

old squaw

The flowers were gone; the birds flocked in great clouds, and among them were eider and old squaw ducks that kept to the rivers and beaches except when they migrated south.

From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George

But Miss Van Winkle took her naps at home after that, though she still thinks of the old squaw every time she looks at the moon.

From Harper's Young People, July 6, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

At length the countenance of an old squaw lighted up, and in low tones she said, "He was a bery good smoker."

From The Lost Hunter A Tale of Early Times by John Turvill Adams

They carried him to Kaskaskia, where an old squaw adopted him for a son.

From History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia by Charles Campbell

He was devotedly cared for by an old squaw, the most skilled nurse in all the Ottawa tribe, and by a young warrior whom he came to know as Atoka.

From At War with Pontiac The Totem of the Bear by Kirk Munroe