sea swallow

4 definitions found

sea swallow - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Sea swallow \Sea" swal"low\
     1. (Zool.)
        (a) The common tern.
        (b) The storm petrel.
        (c) The gannet.
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     2. (Her.) See Cornish chough, under Chough.
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  Fairy \Fair"y\, a.
     1. Of or pertaining to fairies.
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     2. Given by fairies; as, fairy money. --Dryden.
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     Fairy bird (Zool.), the Euoropean little tern (Sterna  minuta
        ); -- called also sea swallow, and hooded tern.
        
  
     Fairy bluebird. (Zool.) See under Bluebird.
  
     Fairy martin (Zool.), a European swallow (Hirrundo ariel)
        that builds flask-shaped nests of mud on overhanging
        cliffs.
  
     Fairy rings or Fairy circles, the circles formed in
        grassy lawns by certain fungi (as Marasmius Oreades),
        formerly supposed to be caused by fairies in their
        midnight dances; also, the mushrooms themselves. Such
        circles may have diameters larger than three meters.
  
     Fairy shrimp (Zool.), a European fresh-water phyllopod
        crustacean (Chirocephalus diaphanus); -- so called from
        its delicate colors, transparency, and graceful motions.
        The name is sometimes applied to similar American species.
        
  
     Fairy stone (Paleon.), an echinite.
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  Chough \Chough\, n. [OE. choughe, kowe (and cf. OE. ca), fr. AS.
     ce['o]; cf. also D. kauw, OHG. ch[=a]ha; perh. akin to E.
     caw. [root]22. Cf. Caddow.] (Zool.)
     A bird of the Crow family (Fregilus graculus) of Europe. It
     is of a black color, with a long, slender, curved bill and
     red legs; -- also called chauk, chauk-daw, chocard,
     Cornish chough, red-legged crow. The name is also applied
     to several allied birds, as the Alpine chough.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Cornish chough (Her.), a bird represented black, with red
        feet, and beak; -- called also aylet and sea swallow.
        [1913 Webster]

sea swallow - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  sea swallow
      n 1: common tern of Eurasia and America having white black and
           grey plumage [syn: sea swallow, Sterna hirundo]