Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various pelagic seabirds of the genera Puffinus and Calonectris having a short hooked bill with tube-shaped nostrils and long slender wings that appear to shear the water as the bird flies along the surface.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A sea-bird of the petrel family, Procellariidæ, and section Puffineæ, having a long and comparatively slender, much-hooked bill, short nasal tubes obliquely truncate and with a thick nasal septum, long pointed wings, short tail, and close oily plumage.
- noun Same as
cutwater , 3. SeeRhynchops .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of long-winged oceanic birds of the genus Puffinus and related genera. They are allied to the petrels, but are larger. The Manx shearwater (
P. Anglorum ), the dusky shearwater (P. obscurus ), and the greater shearwater (P. major ), are well-known species of the North Atlantic. Seehagdon .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of various long-winged
pelagic seabirds in thegenera Calonectris orPuffinus , of the familyProcellariidae , that breed on islands and coastal cliffs.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun long-winged oceanic bird that in flight skims close to the waves
Etymologies
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Examples
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The shearwater was a larger species of tern, or sea-swallow; the
The Wreck of the Nancy Bell Cast Away on Kerguelen Land 1887
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a gull-like bird called a shearwater belong to the "tube-nosed swimmers," on account of their curious long beaks.
Stories of California Ella M. Sexton
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"shearwater" (Puffinus cinereus), which is found on the coast of
Easton's Bible Dictionary M.G. Easton 1897
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I admired the bold black strokes of her eyebrows, arched like the wings of a shearwater, and how each could swoop and rise on its own.
Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009
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The major islands have such special species as the white-tailed tropicbird, the rare Manx (Newell's) shearwater, and the dark-rumped petrel, all of which seek crater walls for nesting.
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I clambered in, and as we zoomed south at a terrifying 20 mph, I felt like a Manx shearwater in a wicker basket being flown to Venice.
A Year on the Wing TIM DEE 2009
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Additional immigrants from the south during summer include short-finned squid, fish such as mackerel and bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), and birds such as greater shearwater (Puffinus gravis) and sooty shearwater (P. griseus).
Fisheries and aquaculture in the Newfoundland and Labrador Seas, Northeastern Canada 2009
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I admired the bold black strokes of her eyebrows, arched like the wings of a shearwater, and how each could swoop and rise on its own.
Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009
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I admired the bold black strokes of her eyebrows, arched like the wings of a shearwater, and how each could swoop and rise on its own.
Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009
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Scandola Nature Reserve contains a rich pelagic, sedentary and migrant fauna including several dozen pairs of shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis desmareti, peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus, three or four pairs of osprey Pandion haliaetus and Eleonora falcon Falco eleonorae with Cory's shearwater Puffinus diomedea and Audouin's gull Larus audouinii (R) occurring in the littoral zone.
Scandola Nature Reserve & Capes Girolata and Porto, France 2008
reesetee commented on the word shearwater
Electronic tags have offered an insight into the mysteries of the 20,000-km migration of Manx shearwaters.
February 7, 2009
reesetee commented on the word shearwater
Wedge-Tailed Shearwaters sound like ghostly kazoos.
January 31, 2010