Found 1 items, similar to aporrhais pes-pelicani.
English → English (gcide)
Definition: Aporrhais pes-pelicani
Pelican
\Pel"i*can\, n. [F. p['e]lican, L. pelicanus, pelecanus,
Gr. ?, ?, ?, the woodpecker, and also a water bird of the
pelican kind, fr. ? to hew with an ax, akin to Skr.
para[,c]u.] [Written also
pelecan.]
1. (Zo["o]l.) 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.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
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 (Zo["o]l.), the frigate bird. See under
Frigate.
Pelican fish (Zo["o]l.), 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 (Zo["o]l.), 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 (Zo["o]l.), a marine gastropod shell of the
genus
Aporrhais, esp.
Aporrhais pes-pelicani of
Europe.
[1913 Webster]