cormorant
UK /ˈkɔːməɹənt/ · US /ˈkɔɹməɹənt/ noun, adjective
Forms cormorants
- noun Any of various medium-large black seabirds of the family Phalacrocoracidae which dive into water for fish and other aquatic animals, found throughout the world except for islands in the centre of the Pacific Ocean; specifically, the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo).
- noun (figuratively, also attributively, archaic) A voracious eater; also, a person who, or thing which, is aggressively greedy for wealth, etc.
- adjective (archaic) Voracious; aggressively greedy.
Synonyms
corvorant sea crow sea raven glutton animal belly-god big back buzgut dog epicure gannet gorger gourmand gormandizer greedyguts guttle hog Homer Simpson helluo pig Phalacrocorax carbo
Etymology
From Middle English cormeraunt (“great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo); other types of aquatic bird”) [and other forms], from Old French cormaran, cor-maraunt [and other forms] (modern French cormoran), possibly variants of *corp-marin, from Medieval Latin corvus marīnus (literally “sea-raven”), with the ending -morant possibly derived from French moran (“marine, maritime”), from Breton mor (“sea”), with -an corrupted in English to -ant. Latin corvus is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *ḱorh₂wós (“raven”), which is imitative of the harsh cry of the bird; while marīnus (“of or pertaining to the sea, marine”) is from Latin mare (“sea”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *móri (“sea; standing water”), possibly from *mer- (“sea; lake; wetland”)) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any species of Phalacrocorax, a genus of sea birds having a sac under the beak; the shag. Cormorants devour fish voraciously, and have become the emblem of gluttony. They are generally black, and hence are called sea ravens, and coalgeese. [Written also corvorant.]
- noun A voracious eater; a glutton, or gluttonous servant. B. Jonson.
Etymology [F. cormoran, fr. Armor. m a sea raven; m sea + bran raven, with cor, equiv. to L. corvus raven, pleonastically prefixed; or perh. fr. L. corvus marinus sea raven.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cormorant”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details