Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A small black-and-white seabird (Alle alle) of the Arctic and northern Atlantic Oceans, having a short bill and a stout body.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The sea-dove or little auk, Mergulus alle or Alle nigricans, a small urinatorial or diving bird of the family Alcidæ.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A guillemot (
Uria grylle ), of the arctic regions. Also applied to the little auk or sea dove. See underdove .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A small back and white
seabird , of the genusAlle , of the northAtlantic ; thelittle auk .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun small short-billed auk abundant in Arctic regions
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[ Diminutive of dove.]
Support
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Examples
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Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), dovekie (little auk), razorbills (Alca torda), and black guillemots are legally hunted in Labrador.
Management and conservation of marine mammals and seabirds in the Arctic 2009
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One distressed dovekie was picked up, but failed to survive.
Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation William Temple Hornaday 1895
bilby commented on the word dovekie
"This bird typically lays one egg in a cavity on a steep rocky slope close to the sea. They raise one chick that leaves the nest about 27 days after hatching. It is estimated that 60 million Dovekies breed in the Thule District. A significant portion of those occur in the area from Cape Atholl south to Parker Snow Bay."
- 'Alle alle', borealforests.org.
November 26, 2008