HERON

heron

(noun) grey or white wading bird with long neck and long legs and (usually) long bill

Hero, Heron, Hero of Alexandria

(noun) Greek mathematician and inventor who devised a way to determine the area of a triangle and who described various mechanical devices (first century)

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Proper noun

Heron

A surname.

Anagrams

• Honer, Horne, Rhone, RhĂ´ne, honer, horne, rhone

Etymology

Noun

heron (plural herons)

A long-legged, long-necked wading bird of the family Ardeidae.

Coordinate terms

• (a wading bird): egret, bittern, crane, heronsew, stork

Anagrams

• Honer, Horne, Rhone, RhĂ´ne, honer, horne, rhone

Source: Wiktionary


Her"on, n. Etym: [OE. heiroun, heroun, heron, hern, OF. hairon, F. héron, OHG. heigir; cf. Icel. hegri, Dan. heire, Sw. häger, and also G. häher jay, jackdaw, OHG. hehara, higere, woodpecker, magpie, D. reiger heron, G. reiher, AS. hragra. Cf. Aigret, Egret.] (Zoöl.)

Definition: Any wading bird of the genus Ardea and allied genera, of the family Ardeidæ. The herons have a long, sharp bill, and long legs and toes, with the claw of the middle toe toothed. The common European heron (Ardea cinerea) is remarkable for its directly ascending flight, and was formerly hunted with the larger falcons.

Note: There are several common American species; as, the great blue heron (Ardea herodias); the little blue (A. coerulea); the green (A. virescens); the snowy (A. candidissima); the night heron or qua-bird (Nycticorax nycticorax). The plumed herons are called egrets. Heron's bill (Bot.), a plant of the genus Erodium; -- so called from the fancied resemblance of the fruit to the head and beak of the heron.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

27 April 2024

GREAT

(adjective) remarkable or out of the ordinary in degree or magnitude or effect; “a great crisis”; “had a great stake in the outcome”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

An article published in Harvard Men’s Health Watch in 2012 shows heavy coffee drinkers live longer. The researchers examined data from 400,000 people and found out that men who drank six or more coffee cups per day had a 10% lower death rate.

coffee icon