Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various birds with large bills, especially the boat-billed heron.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A South American bird, Cochlearia (or Cancroma) cochlearia, related to the true herons: so named from the shape and size of the bill, which is very broad and much vaulted.
- noun One of the broadbills, Eurylæmidæ, a group of perching birds characteristic of the Indo-Malayan region; in particular, Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchus. See cut under
gaper .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A wading bird (
Cancroma cochlearia ) of the tropical parts of South America. Its bill is somewhat like a boat with the keel uppermost. - noun A perching bird of India, of the genus Eurylaimus.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A form of
heron ,Cochlearius cochlearius , native to Central and South America
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun tropical American heron related to night herons
Etymologies
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Examples
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W.P. P.rker, in his notes upon the osteology of the balæniceps, this bird recalls the boatbill, the heron, and the adjutant.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 829, November 21, 1891 Various
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Bonaparte regards it as intermediate between the pelican and the boatbill.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 829, November 21, 1891 Various
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The nostrils differ in form and position in those two birds, and in the boatbill there exists beneath the lower mandible a dilatable pouch that we do not find in the balæniceps.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 829, November 21, 1891 Various
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An osteological examination leads Parker to place the balæniceps near the boatbill, and the present classification is based upon that opinion.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 829, November 21, 1891 Various
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Verreaux believes that its nearest relative is the adjutant, whose ways it has, and that it represents in this group what the boatbill represents in the heron genus.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 829, November 21, 1891 Various
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The boatbill, says he, is merely a heron provided with a singular bill, which has but little analogy with that of the balæniceps, and not a true resemblance.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 829, November 21, 1891 Various
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If we listen to Reinhurdt, we must place it, not alongside of the boatbill, but alongside of the African genus Scopus.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 829, November 21, 1891 Various
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The curious form of the bill, in fact, explains this comparison with birds belonging to so different groups, and the balæniceps would merit the name of boatbill equally well with the bird so called, since its bill recalls the small fishing boats that we observe keel upward high and dry on our seashores.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 829, November 21, 1891 Various
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European spoonbill, and the South American cinereous boatbill.
How to See the British Museum in Four Visits W. Blanchard Jerrold 1855
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While in quest of these, the blue heron, the large and small brown heron, the boatbill and muscovy duck now and then rise up before you.
Wanderings in South America Charles Waterton 1823
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