frigate pelican
2 definitions found
frigate pelican - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :
Frigate \Frig"ate\, n. [F. fr['e]gate, It. fregata, prob.
contracted fr. L. fabricata something constructed or built.
See Fabricate.]
1. Originally, a vessel of the Mediterranean propelled by
sails and by oars. The French, about 1650, transferred the
name to larger vessels, and by 1750 it had been
appropriated for a class of war vessels intermediate
between corvettes and ships of the line. Frigates, from
about 1750 to 1850, had one full battery deck and, often,
a spar deck with a lighter battery. They carried sometimes
as many as fifty guns. After the application of steam to
navigation steam frigates of largely increased size and
power were built, and formed the main part of the navies
of the world till about 1870, when the introduction of
ironclads superseded them. [Formerly spelled frigat and
friggot.]
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2. Any small vessel on the water. [Obs.] --Spenser.
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Frigate bird (Zool.), a web-footed rapacious bird, of the
genus Fregata; -- called also man-of-war bird, and
frigate pelican. Two species are known; that of the
Southern United States and West Indies is F. aquila.
They are remarkable for their long wings and powerful
flight. Their food consists of fish which they obtain by
robbing gulls, terns, and other birds, of their prey. They
are related to the pelicans.
Frigate mackerel (Zool.), an oceanic fish (Auxis Rochei)
of little or no value as food, often very abundant off the
coast of the United States.
Frigate pelican. (Zool.) Same as Frigate bird.
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Pelican \Pel"i*can\ (p[e^]l"[i^]*kan), n. [F. p['e]lican, L.
pelicanus, pelecanus, Gr. peleka`n, peleka^s, pele`kanos, the
woodpecker, and also a water bird of the pelican kind, fr.
peleka^n to hew with an ax, fr. pe`lekys an ax, akin to Skr.
para[,c]u.] [Written also pelecan.]
1. (Zool.) Any large webfooted bird of the genus Pelecanus,
of which about a dozen species are known. They have an
enormous bill, to the lower edge of which is attached a
pouch in which captured fishes are temporarily stored.
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Note: The American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
) and the brown species (Pelecanus fuscus
) are abundant on the Florida coast in winter,
but breed about the lakes in the Rocky Mountains and
British America.
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2. (Old Chem.) A retort or still having a curved tube or
tubes leading back from the head to the body for
continuous condensation and redistillation.
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Note: The principle is still employed in certain modern forms
of distilling apparatus.
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Frigate pelican (Zool.), the frigate bird. See under
Frigate.
Pelican fish (Zool.), deep-sea fish (Eurypharynx pelecanoides
) of the order Lyomeri, remarkable for the
enormous development of the jaws, which support a large
gular pouch.
Pelican flower (Bot.), the very large and curiously shaped
blossom of a climbing plant (Aristolochia grandiflora)
of the West Indies; also, the plant itself.
Pelican ibis (Zool.), a large Asiatic wood ibis (Tantalus leucocephalus
). The head and throat are destitute of
feathers; the plumage is white, with the quills and the
tail greenish black.
Pelican in her piety (in heraldry and symbolical art), a
representation of a pelican in the act of wounding her
breast in order to nourish her young with her blood; -- a
practice fabulously attributed to the bird, on account of
which it was adopted as a symbol of the Redeemer, and of
charity.
Pelican's foot (Zool.), a marine gastropod shell of the
genus Aporrhais, esp. Aporrhais pes-pelicani of
Europe.
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