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

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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

Hugh stopped before an old squaw and picked up a pair of large mittens with gauntlet attachments.

From The Great Gold Rush A Tale of the Klondike by W. H. P. (William Henry Pope) Jarvis

I understood that Weetamoo thought that if she should let me go and serve with the old squaw, she would be in danger to lose not only my service, but the redemption pay also.

From Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson by Mary White Rowlandson

How they fought and how they were united, How the Powhatan his mighty rule extended— All these things the old squaw told the maiden.

From Pocahontas. A Poem by Virginia Carter Castleman

But the Kean medal was not among them; nor could I, by any system of description in my power, recall the features of the relic to the memory of the old squaw.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 41, March, 1861 by Various

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