8 June 2018

cormorant

[kawr-mer-uh nt]

noun

1. any of several voracious, totipalmate seabirds of the family Phalacrocoracidae, as Phalacrocorax carbo, of America, Europe, and Asia, having a long neck and a distensible pouch under the bill for holding captured fish, used in China for catching fish.
2. a greedy person.

Origin of cormorant

Middle English, Middle French, Old French, Late Latin
1300-1350; Middle English cormera(u)nt < Middle French cormorant, Old French cormareng < Late Latin corvus marīnus sea-raven. See corbel, marine

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for cormorant

Historical Examples

It was a horrible, a brutal business, a thing he had not foreseen on board the cormorant.
The Wild Geese
Stanley John Weyman

The birds comprise a darter, a cormorant, a guillemot, and a penguin.
Little Folks (Septemeber 1884)
Various

Law is a bottomless pit; it is a cormorant, a harpy, that devours everything.
The History of John Bull
John Arbuthnot

Today’s quote

We start from different ideological positions. For you to be a Communist or a Socialist is to be totalitarian; for me no.… On the contrary, I think Socialism frees man.

– Salvador Allende

On this day

8 June 1921 – birth of Ivan Southall AM, DFC, Australian writer of young-adult fiction and non-fiction. Books include ‘Ash Road’, ‘Let the Balloon Go’, ‘Hill’s End’, ‘Fly West’ and ‘Josh. Died 15 November 2008.

8 June 1967 – During the Six Day War, Israel launched a naval and air assault on the USS Liberty as it sat in international waters near Egypt’s Gaza Strip. The attack left 34 US crewmen dead and injured 171 others. Israel claimed the attack was an accident, while some witnesses claimed it was deliberate.