Adjacent Words

Penguin definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PEN'GUIN, n. [L. pinguidine, with fatness.]
1. A genus of fowls of the order of Palmipeds. The penguin is an aquatic fowl with very short legs, with four toes, three of which are webbed; the body is clothed with short feathers, set as compactly as the scales of a fish; the wings are small like fins, and covered with short scale-like feathers, so that they are useless in flight. Penguins seldom go on shore, except in the season of breeding, when they burrow like rabbits. On land they stand erect; they are tame and may be driven like a flock of sheep. In water they swim with rapidity, being assisted by their wings. These fowls are found only in the southern latitudes.
2. A species of fruit.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: short-legged flightless birds of cold southern especially Antarctic regions having webbed feet and wings modified as flippers

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: obsolete English penguin great auk, perhaps from Welsh pen gwyn white head (applied to the bird in winter plumage) Date: 1588 any of various erect short-legged flightless aquatic birds (family Spheniscidae) of the southern hemisphere

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. any flightless sea bird of the family Spheniscidae of the southern hemisphere, with black upper-parts and white under-parts, and wings developed into scaly flippers for swimming underwater. Etymology: 16th c., orig. = great auk: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Penguin Pen"guin, n. [Perh. orig. the name of another bird, and fr. W. pen head + gwyn white; or perh. from a native South American name.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) Any bird of the order Impennes, or Ptilopteri. They are covered with short, thick feathers, almost scalelike on the wings, which are without true quills. They are unable to fly, but use their wings to aid in diving, in which they are very expert. See King penguin, under Jackass. Note: Penguins are found in the south temperate and antarctic regions. The king penguins (Aptenodytes Patachonica, and A. longirostris) are the largest; the jackass penguins (Spheniscus) and the rock hoppers (Catarractes) congregate in large numbers at their breeding grounds. 2. (Bot.) The egg-shaped fleshy fruit of a West Indian plant (Bromelia Pinguin) of the Pineapple family; also, the plant itself, which has rigid, pointed, and spiny-toothed leaves, and is used for hedges. [Written also pinguin.] Arctic penguin (Zo["o]l.), the great auk. See Auk.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(penguins) A penguin is a type of large black and white sea bird found mainly in the Antarctic. Penguins cannot fly but use their short wings for swimming. N-COUNT