sea swallow
Americannoun
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any of several terns, especially Sterna hirundo.
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British Dialect. any of several small petrels, especially the storm petrel, Hydrobates pelagicus.
noun
Etymology
Origin of sea swallow
First recorded in 1590–1600
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Or would it rather evacuate and abandon them, letting the sea swallow the remains of their homes?
From Washington Post • Sep. 2, 2022
The wing of a white sea swallow never swept a lovelier curve on the breast of the ocean than the line of this valley.
From Her Father's Daughter by Stratton-Porter, Gene
She knew where the white sea swallow nested.
From Her Father's Daughter by Stratton-Porter, Gene
Linda was watching a sea swallow now, and slowly her lean fingers were gathering handfuls of sand and sifting them into a little pyramid she was heaping beside her.
From Her Father's Daughter by Stratton-Porter, Gene
"You are handsome, but may the sea swallow you up before you come back!"
From Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) A Novel by Jordan, Charlotte Brewster
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
