Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The caret, or hawk-billed sea-turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata. It is from this turtle that tortoise-shell is obtained, Also called hawk's-bill. See cut under Eretmochelys.
  • noun A pair of pliers with curved nose, used to hold pieces in soldering them with a blowpipe.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) A sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), which yields the best quality of tortoise shell; -- called also caret.

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

  • noun Alternative spelling of hawksbill.

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

  • noun pugnacious tropical sea turtle with a hawk-like beak; source of food and the best tortoiseshell

Etymologies

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Examples

  • And we traded and salved wherever a dollar promised in the way of pearl and pearl shell, copra, beche-de-mer, hawkbill turtle shell, and stranded wrecks.

    THE HEATHEN 2010

  • And we traded and salved wherever a dollar promised in the way of pearl and pearl shell, copra, beche de mer, hawkbill turtle shell, and stranded wrecks.

    THE HEATHEN 2010

  • And we traded and salved wherever a dollar promised in the way of pearl and pearl shell, copra, beche-de-mer, hawkbill turtle shell, and stranded wrecks.

    THE HEATHEN 2010

  • They are shipwrecked thrice, in the Gilberts, the Santa Cruz Group and the Fijis, trade pearl and pearl-shell, hawkbill turtle-shell, stranded wrecks, and bêche-de-mer.

    “Some day, all the fools will be dead....” 2008

  • And we traded and salved wherever a dollar promised in the way of pearl and pearl shell, copra, beche de mer, hawkbill turtle shell, and stranded wrecks.

    The Heathen 1914

  • And we traded and salved wherever a dollar promised in the way of pearl and pearl shell, copra, beche de mer, hawkbill turtle shell, and stranded wrecks.

    South Sea Tales: The Heathen(DL SunSITE) 1911

  • And we traded and salved wherever a dollar promised in the way of pearl and pearl shell, copra, bêche de mer, hawkbill turtle shell, and stranded wrecks.

    The Heathen 1910

  • And we traded and salved wherever a dollar promised in the way of pearl and pearl shell, copra, beche-de-mer, hawkbill turtle shell, and stranded wrecks.

    South Sea Tales Jack London 1896

  • We had heard that he had quite a considerable quantity of hawkbill turtle shell and some coco-nut oil to sell, and came to ascertain the truth of the report before we were anticipated by some German or

    Rídan The Devil And Other Stories 1899 Louis Becke 1884

  • Then, besides the pearl-shell I bought nearly five hundredweight of splendid hawkbill turtle-shell, giving but two or three sticks of tobacco for an entire carapace of thirteen plates weighing between two and three pounds, and, as you know, hawkbill shell is worth eight dollars a pound in Hongkong, and much more in London or Hamburg. "

    Yorke The Adventurer Louis Becke 1884

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