Lexic.us

Definition of Pelican

1. Noun. Large long-winged warm-water seabird having a large bill with a distensible pouch for fish.

Definition of Pelican

1. n. Any large webfooted bird of the genus Pelecanus, of which about a dozen species are known. They have an enormous bill, to the lower edge of which is attached a pouch in which captured fishes are temporarily stored.

Definition of Pelican

1. Noun. Any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae, having a long bill with a distendable pouch. ¹

2. Noun. A native or resident of the American state of Louisiana. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Pelican

1. a large, web-footed bird [n -S]

Medical Definition of Pelican

1. 1. Any large webfooted bird of the genus of Pelecanus, of which about a dozen species are known. They have an enormous bill, to the lower edge of which is attached a pouch in which captured fishes are temporarily stored. The American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) and the brown species (P. Fuscus) are abundant on the Florida coast in winter, but breed about the lakes in the Rocky Mountains and British America. 2. A retort or still having a curved tube or tubes leading back from the head to the body for continuous condensation and redistillation. The principle is still employed in certain modern forms of distilling apparatus. Frigate pelican, deep-sea fish (Eurypharynx pelecanoides) of the order Lyomeri, remarkable for the enormous development of the jaws, which support a large gular pouch. Pelican flower, a marine gastropod shell of the genus Aporrhais, especially. Aporrhais pes-pelicani of Europe. Origin: F. Pelican, L. Pelicanus, pelecanus, Gr, the woodpecker, and also a water bird of the pelican kind, fr. To hew with an ax, akin to Skr. Paracu Alternative forms: pelecan. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Pelican

Literary usage of Pelican

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Adventure Guide to the Inside Passage and Coastal Alaska by Lynn Readicker-Henderson (2002)
"pelican The beauty of pelican is not so much the town itself- even if it is the most scenic of the fishing villages in Southeast - but the ride into pelican ..."

2. The Birds of America by John James] [Audubon (1844)
"The Brown pelican, which is one of the most interesting of our American birds, is a constant resident in the Floridas, where it resorts to the Keys and the ..."

3. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1919)
"The white pelican is often seen in long lines beating the water with their ... Unlike the white pelican, which frequents the shores of lakes and rivers, ..."

4. Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 by Alfred Thayer Mahan (1905)
"On August 12 the British brig of war "pelican," Captain Maples, anchored at Cork from the West Indies. Before her sails were furled she received orders to ..."

5. The American Naturalist by American Society of Naturalists, Essex Institute (1871)
"A White pelican seems, however, to have been recently killed on Brant Point, ... The Brown pelican I have not known to occur previously so far north. ..."

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