Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several large seabirds of the genus Morus, especially M. bassanus of the North Atlantic, having a pointed bill and tail, long wings, and white plumage with black wingtips.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The solan-goose, Sula bassana, a large totipalmate swimming bird of the family Sulidæ and order Steganopodes.
- noun plural The birds of the family Sulidæ; the boobies, of which there are several species, of the genera Sula and Dysporus.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) One of several species of sea birds of the genus Sula, allied to the pelicans.
- noun See
Sula .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun any of three species of large
seabird in thegenus Morus , of the familySulidae . They have black and white bodies and long pointed wings, and hunt forfish by plunge diving and pursuing their prey underwater. - noun UK a
voracious eater; aglutton . - noun UK a person who flocks towards food whenever it is put out.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun large heavily built seabird with a long stout bill noted for its plunging dives for fish
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The gannet is the scrap merchant of the ocean, its trash collector.
A Year on the Wing TIM DEE 2009
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"The gannet is a great diver, plunging down into the sea from a considerable height, such as forty feet."
Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879
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"The gannet is a great diver, plunging down into the sea from a considerable height, such as forty feet."
Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879
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POISED with its wings spread out in the air, the gannet was the ideal subject for Javier Martin’s photograph.
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The bird, a young northern gannet found offshore, is normally white with a yellow head.
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Uncomforted by nicotine the man's spirits plummeted like a gannet after sprats.
Down go the fairy lights and down go Middlesbrough's promotion hopes | Harry Pearson 2012
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One of the first oil-covered birds to be cleaned up and released in early May was a northern gannet that should have been on its way north to a breeding colony on the Atlantic coast of Canada.
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The first two oiled birds found since the spill, a northern gannet and a brown pelican, were cleaned, rehabilitated and released at Florida's Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, the National Audubon Society said.
Engineers trying multiple tactics in battle to plug oil well in Gulf of Mexico 2010
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other groups released the pelicans and one northern gannet.
Pelicans Rehabbed From Gulf Oil Spill Released Into Texas Wildlife Refuge 2010
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other groups released the pelicans and one northern gannet.
Pelicans Rehabbed From Gulf Oil Spill Released Into Texas Wildlife Refuge 2010
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