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Webster 1913 Edition


Cormorant

Cor′mo-rant

(kôr′mō̍-rant)
,
Noun.
[F.
cormoran
, fr. Armor.
mōr-vran
a sea raven;
mōr
sea +
bran
raven, with
cor
, equiv. to L.
corvus
raven, pleonastically prefixed; or perh. fr. L.
corvus marinus
sea raven.]
1.
(Zool.)
Any species of
Phalacrocorax
, a genus of sea birds having a sac under the beak; the shag. Cormorants devour fish voraciously, and have become the emblem of gluttony. They are generally black, and hence are called
sea ravens
, and
coalgeese
.
[Written also
corvorant
.]
2.
A voracious eater; a glutton, or gluttonous servant.
B. Jonson.

Webster 1828 Edition


Cormorant

CORMORANT

,
Noun.
[Cormorant is supposed to be corrupted from corvus marinus, sea raven. The Welsh also call the fowl morvran, sea crow.]
1.
The water raven, a large fowl of the pelican kind; the head and neck are black; the coverts of the wings, the scapulars and the back are of a deep green, edged with black and glossed with blue. The base of the lower mandible is covered with a naked yellow skin, which extends under the chin and forms a sort of pouch. This fowl occupies the cliffs by the sea, feeds on fish, and is extremely voracious.
2.
A glutton.

Definition 2024


cormorant

cormorant

English

A cormorant

Noun

cormorant (plural cormorants)

  1. Any of various medium-large black seabirds of the family Phalacrocoracidae, especially the great cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo.
  2. A voracious eater; a glutton.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

Synonyms

  • (voracious eater): see Wikisaurus:glutton

Translations

Adjective

cormorant (comparative more cormorant, superlative most cormorant)

  1. Ravenous, greedy.
    • William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, Act I, Scene 1
      Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives,
      Live regist'red upon our brazen tombs,
      And then grace us in the disgrace of death;
      When, spite of cormorant devouring Time,
      The endeavour of this present breath may buy
      That honour which shall bate his scythe's keen edge,
      And make us heirs of all eternity.

See also