pelican
nounUK, US /ˈpɛl.ɪ.kən/
Etymology From Middle English pellican, pellicane, from Old English pellican (“pelican”), from Latin pelecānus, from Ancient Greek πελεκάν (pelekán), πέλεκυς (pélekus, “hatchet”).
1
Any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae, having a long bill with a distendable pouch.
- The old have outlived that mental world we so misname in calling it a world of enjoyment;—they have outlived the feverish dreams which waste those keen hopes—the pelicans of the heart, feeding on the life-blood of their parent;—they have now no part in the excitement of success, whether in its desire or disappointment.1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter III, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 54:
- Pelicans fly below us with stiffly formal strokes, and gulls wheel and keen.1981, Gene Wolfe, chapter VIII, in The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun; 2), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 71:
2
A native or resident of the American state of Louisiana.
5
Firefighting, Government Canada, Slang A waterbomber.
6
Slang An ageing prostitute.
- Derived terms
- Australian pelican, brown pelican, dental pelican, Little Pelican, pelican crossing, pelican eel, pelican flower, pelican gulper, pelicanish, Pelican Island, pelicanist, pelicanlike, pelican pot, pelicanry, pelican spider, Pelican State, spot-billed pelican