whalebird

English

Etymology

whale +‎ bird, because they have been known to follow whaling vessels to feed on the blubber and floating oil.

Noun

whalebird (plural whalebirds)

Any of several species of large Antarctic petrels, especially Pachyptila turtur (the blue petrel) and Pachyptila desolata.
(Australia) The sooty tern

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “whalebird”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Translations

Any of several species of large Antarctic petrels, especially Pachyptila turtur and Pachyptila desolata

Maori: pararā

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