Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several large wading birds of the family Phoenicopteridae, primarily of tropical regions, having reddish or pinkish plumage, long legs, a long flexible neck, and a bill turned downward at the tip.
  • noun A moderate reddish orange.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Any bird of the family Phænicopteridæ: so called from the red or flaming color.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) Any bird of the genus Phœnicopterus. The flamingoes have webbed feet, very long legs, and a beak bent down as if broken. Their color is usually red or pink. The American flamingo is P. ruber; the European is P. antiquorum.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A wading bird of the family Phoenicopteridae.
  • noun A deep pink color tinged with orange, like that of a flamingo.
  • adjective Of a deep pink color tinged with orange, like that of a flamingo.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun large pink to scarlet web-footed wading bird with down-bent bill; inhabits brackish lakes

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Portuguese flamengo or Spanish flamenco, both probably from Old Provençal flamenc, from flama, flame, from Latin flamma; see bhel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Portuguese flamingo, from Spanish flamengo ("flame colored"), from Provençal flama ("flame").

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Examples

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  • Interesting (?) citation on mallet.

    January 9, 2009