marabou

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

• noun A large African stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferus) that scavenges for carrion and has a naked head and neck, black wings, and soft white down on the underside.
• noun The down of this stork or an imitation of it made from other bird feathers.
• noun A hat or garment trimmed with this down or an imitation of it.
• noun A raw silk that can be dyed without being separated from the gum.
• noun Fabric or an article of clothing made from such silk.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A kind of stork, more commonly called marabou-stork.
• noun A kind of raw silk which is peculiarly white and can be dyed without being freed from its natural gum: so called from the resemblance of its delicate fibers to marabou-feathers.
• noun The variety of negro which springs from a mulatto and a griffe: so called by the French of Louisiana.

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

• noun (Zoöl.) A large black-and-white carrion-eating stork of the genus Leptoptilos (formerly Ciconia), esp. the African species (Leptoptilus crumeniferus syn. Leptoptilos crumenifer), whose downy under-wing feathers are used to trim garments; called also marabout. The Asiatic species (Leptoptilos dubius, or Leptoptilos argala) is the adjutant. See adjutant.
• noun Louisiana One having five eighths negro blood; the offspring of a mulatto and a griffe.
• noun A kind of thrown raw silk, nearly white naturally, but capable of being dyed without scouring; also, a thin fabric made from it, as for scarfs, which resembles the feathers of the marabou in delicacy, -- whence the name.

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

• noun A large wading bird native to Africa, with a naked head and neck adapted for scavenging.
• noun dated, US, Louisiana One having five eighths negro blood; the offspring of a mulatto and a griffe.

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

• noun large African black-and-white carrion-eating stork; its downy underwing feathers are used to trim garments
• noun the downy feathers of marabou storks are used for trimming garments