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Petrel   Listen
noun
Petrel  n.  (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of longwinged sea birds belonging to the family Procellaridae. The small petrels, or Mother Carey's chickens, belong to Oceanites, Oceanodroma, Procellaria, and several allied genera.
Diving petrel, any bird of the genus Pelecanoides. They chiefly inhabit the southern hemisphere.
Fulmar petrel, Giant petrel. See Fulmar.
Pintado petrel, the Cape pigeon. See under Cape.
Pintado petrel, any one of several small petrels, especially Procellaria pelagica, or Mother Carey's chicken, common on both sides of the Atlantic.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Petrel" Quotes from Famous Books



... over it when Archey, that stormy petrel of bad news, came in and very soon took her ...
— Mary Minds Her Business • George Weston

... Hugh now, I wonder? Vanishing from the House of Commons, he reappeared for a while on the scene, characteristically acting the part of the petrel that heralded the storm Mr. Pigott ineffectively tried to ride. It must be a consolation to Mr. O'Donnell, in his retirement, wherever it is passed, to reflect on the fact that it was he who directly brought about ...
— The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 27, March 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various

... Allday.—The "Stormy Petrel" of modern Birmingham was Joseph, or, as he was better known, Joey Allday, whose hand at one time, was against every man, and every man's hand against Joe. Born in 1798, Mr. Allday, on arriving at years of maturity, ...
— Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham - A History And Guide Arranged Alphabetically • Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell

... its own captain and other officers. Would you like to know the names of the ships that won such fame in Manila Bay? The "flagship" was the Olympia; then there were five other cruisers: the Baltimore, the Boston, the Raleigh, the Concord, the Petrel; and a small vessel called the Hugh McCulloch. There were also two steamers carrying coal and provisions. All the fleet had been newly painted gray, to match our ...
— Young Peoples' History of the War with Spain • Prescott Holmes

... friendly vales, And grand old hills that guard my home, To where the seaward petrel sails And storm winds of the Northland moan. I live again in brighter days, New-born from dreams of the dead past, When she and I stood there to gaze At sparkling ...
— The Poets and Poetry of Cecil County, Maryland • Various

... but adopt, if they wished to advance and go forward in the direction of liberty, prosperity, and peace. There was just enough truth in such assertions to render them amusing, though not enough to give them a sting. There were times when Lord John was the 'stormy petrel' of foreign politics, but there never was a time when he ceased to labour in season and out for what he believed to be the honour of England. 'I do not believe that any English foreign statesman, who does his duty faithfully by his own countrymen in difficult circumstances, can escape ...
— Lord John Russell • Stuart J. Reid

... and cloud, you are a stormy petrel, but there may come a storm too many—and I am old. I have done my best, but that is little. If you were a lad one would not be so uneasy. I suppose the good God knows best—if one could be sure of that—I am a hard working woman, and I have done no great sin that I know ...
— Wisdom, Wit, and Pathos of Ouida - Selected from the Works of Ouida • Ouida

... the desolate South Seas there lives a large and beautiful bird called the albatross, the giant member of the petrel family. The wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) is the largest of its tribe. Specimens have been captured measuring four feet in length, and with an expanse of wing from ten to fourteen feet. The body of this bird is very ...
— Harper's Young People, April 20, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various

... very little, fact. I think it would be hardly possible to name a bird which apparently could have less to do with distribution than a Petrel. Sir W. Milner, at St. Kilda, cut open some young nestling Petrels, and he found large, curious nuts in their crops; I suspect picked up by parent birds from the Gulf stream. He seems to value these nuts excessively. I have asked him (but I doubt whether he will) to send a nut to ...
— The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I • Francis Darwin

... Petrel" was manned by half a dozen jaunty looking sailors, who made a fine display of blue shirts and shiny hats, with stars and anchors ...
— Eight Cousins • Louisa M. Alcott

... astir,' said the waiter, who, in the intervals of a casual attendance on Sir John, spoke of these things, cigarette in mouth. 'There is doubtless something astir, since General Vincente is on the road. They call him the Stormy Petrel, for when he appears abroad there usually ...
— In Kedar's Tents • Henry Seton Merriman



Words linked to "Petrel" :   family Procellariidae, stormy petrel, Macronectes giganteus, white-chinned petrel, pelagic bird, giant petrel, diving petrel, Procellaria aequinoctialis, Procellariidae



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