auk

American

[awk] / ɔk /

noun

any of several usually black-and-white diving birds of the family Alcidae, of northern seas, having webbed feet and small wings.

auk British

/ ɔːk /

noun

any of various diving birds of the family Alcidae of northern oceans having a heavy body, short tail, narrow wings, and a black-and-white plumage: order Charadriiformes See also great auk razorbill auk
a small short-billed auk, Plautus alle, abundant in Arctic regions

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of auk

1665–75; < Scandinavian; compare Old Norse alka

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Any lesser auk might have called it quits.

From Literature

Most are puffins with significant numbers of common guillemots and little auks.

From BBC

The Hall of Extinction and Hope analogizes manmade climate change and habitat destruction to a slow-moving asteroid that has already obliterated species such as the passenger pigeon, dodo and great auk.

From The Wall Street Journal

"Under the perpetual daylight, little auks exhibit an acoustic pattern that mirrors their behavioral cycles -- such as attendance, feeding, and fledging -- offering valuable insights into their ecological dynamics."

From Science Daily

"In the small intestine/of the little auk/we found Mexico City, Manila, Shanghai, New York."

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023