puffin

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]
EnglishWikipediahas an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

[edit]
A puffin

FromMiddle Englishpoffin,poffoun,puffon,equivalent topuff+‎-ing,or perhaps ultimately fromMiddle Cornish(compareBretonpoc'han(puffin)).

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

puffin(pluralpuffins)

  1. (nowobsolete)Theyoungof theManx shearwater(Puffinus puffinus), especiallyeatenasfood.[14th–19th c.]
  2. TheAtlantic puffin(Fratercula arctica) or(by extension)any of the other various smallseabirdsof thegeneraFraterculaandLundathat areblack and whitewith abrightly-colouredbeak.[from 17th c.]
    Synonyms:(Britain, regional)pope,sea-parrot
    • 1894May,Rudyard Kipling,“The White Seal”, inThe Jungle Book,London, New York, N.Y.:Macmillan and Co.,publishedJune 1894,→OCLC,page110:
      Naturally the Chickies and the Gooverooskies and the Epatkas—the Burgomaster Gulls and the Kittiwakes and thePuffins,who are always looking for a chance to be rude—took up the cry, and—so Limmershin told me—for nearly five minutes you could not have heard a gun fired on Walrus Islet.
  3. (entomology)Any of variousAfricanandAsianpieridbutterfliesof the genusAppias.Somespeciesof this genus are also known asalbatrosses.
  4. (obsolete)Apuffball.

Derived terms

[edit]
[edit]

Translations

[edit]

French

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

BorrowedfromEnglishpuffin.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

puffinm(pluralpuffins)

  1. shearwater

Further reading

[edit]