Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An albatross, especially one of the genus Thalassarche, found in the Southern Hemisphere.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of a group of medium-sized
albatrosses in thegenus Thalassarche .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Alteration (influenced by Molly, nickname for Mary) of Dutch mallemok : mal, foolish (of unknown origin; probably applied to the birds because sailors found them easy to catch) + mok, seagull (of unknown origin).]
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Examples
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He also came upon a mollymawk rookery on the south-western point of the island, and managed to take one of the birds by hand.
The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 Douglas Mawson 1920
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During the heavy weather, Mother Carey's chickens only were seen, but, as the wind abated, the majestic wandering albatross, the sooty albatross and the mollymawk followed in our wake.
The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 Douglas Mawson 1920
chained_bear commented on the word mollymawk
"...there were others that he could not identify with any certainty, birds to which he sailors gave the genreal name of mollymawks."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen Gun Salute, 147
March 4, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word mollymawk
See also mallemawk.
March 6, 2008
avivamagnolia commented on the word mollymawk
Any one of several species of large pelagic petrels and fulmars, as Fulmarus glacialis, of the North Atlantic, and several species of aestrelata, of the Southern Ocean. See Fulmar.
Alternative forms: mollymawk, malmock, mollemock, mallemocke
Origin: Sw. Mallemucke the stormy petrel
January 18, 2009