Definitions

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

  • noun A rare wild goose (Branta sandvicensis) of the Hawaiian Islands, having a grayish-brown body with a black face.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A species of goose, Bernicla sandwichensis, peculiar to the Sandwich Islands.

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

  • noun The Hawaiian goose, Branta sandvicensis, now the state bird of Hawaii.

Etymologies

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

[Hawaiian nēnē, imitative of its cry.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hawaiian nēnē.

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Examples

Comments

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  • a Hawaiian goose

    December 10, 2006

  • These geese have lost the ability to fly through evolution (de-volution?) and neither can they swim--yet they nest on sea-cliffs. They do, however, make good roadkill.

    March 19, 2008

  • Gee, that's nice to hear, considering it's so RARE. Maybe you ought to take different roads, patra.

    March 19, 2008

  • My comment is based on a second-hand account. I have never personally killed a member of an endangered species.

    March 19, 2008