stork

[ stawrk ]

/ stɔrk /

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noun, plural storks, (especially collectively) stork.

any of several wading birds of the family Ciconiidae, having long legs and a long neck and bill.Compare adjutant stork, jabiru, marabou (def. 1), white stork, wood ibis.

the stork, this bird as the mythical or symbolic deliverer of a new baby: My brother and his wife are expecting the stork in July.

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Origin of stork

before 900; Middle English; Old English storc; cognate with German Storch,Old Norse storkr; akin to stark

OTHER WORDS FROM stork

storklike, adjective

Words nearby stork

storey, storeyed, storey house, storiated, storied, stork, stork parking, stork's-bill, storm, Storm and Stress, storm belt

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use stork in a sentence

Meet Charles Vance Millar, whose death was the starting gun for the Stork Derby.
Toronto’s Depression-Era Baby Race|Fiona Zublin|November 25, 2020|Ozy
So different were they that Lucy Fisher, another friend, used to tease that "Doug had been brought by the stork."
Doug Kenney: The Odd Comic Genius Behind ‘Animal House’ and National Lampoon|Robert Sam Anson|March 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He looks like a stork that dropped a baby and broke it and is coming to explain to the parents.
Mel Brooks Is Always Funny and Often Wise in This 1975 Playboy Interview|Alex Belth|February 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We just sing beautiful music, hold hands and voilà, a stork brings the baby from heaven.
Judith Regan: Todd Akin and Republican Men’s World of Unicorns, True Love—and No Rape|Judith Regan|August 22, 2012|DAILY BEAST

I always believed someone was going to leave a baby on my doorstep—like the stork.
My Husband's Recovery—and Mine|Sandra McElwaine|April 21, 2009|DAILY BEAST
But the stork was cruel and would not heed him, and led Cedric a weary chase through the marshes and the brakes.
Love's Pilgrimage|Upton Sinclair
Stuckup, great tall stork of a woman, that lords it over a man as though she was a goddess.
You Never Know Your Luck, Complete|Gilbert Parker
Monson, my old servant, has joined me, looking more like a cross between an owl and a stork than ever!
Letters of Lt.-Col. George Brenton Laurie|George Brenton Laurie
Vultures and kites are common enough; and Haji Laqlaq the stork comes in regularly from his pilgrimage to Mecca in the spring.
The Cradle of Mankind|W.A. Wigram
When the child's development has gone far enough, it will be well to dispense with the stork story.
The Sexual Life of the Child|Albert Moll

British Dictionary definitions for stork

stork

/ (stɔːk) /

noun

any large wading bird of the family Ciconiidae, chiefly of warm regions of the Old World, having very long legs and a long stout pointed bill, and typically having a white-and-black plumage: order Ciconiiformes

(sometimes capital) a variety of domestic fancy pigeon resembling the fairy swallow

Word Origin for stork

Old English storc; related to Old High German storah, Old Norse storkr, Old English stearc stiff; from the stiff appearance of its legs; see stark

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012