sheldrake
(noun) Old World gooselike duck slightly larger than a mallard with variegated mostly black-and-white plumage and a red bill
merganser, fish duck, sawbill, sheldrake
(noun) large crested fish-eating diving duck having a slender hooked bill with serrated edges
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Sheldrake
An English surname.
sheldrake (plural sheldrakes)
An Old World duck of the genus Tadorna.
A merganser.
A male shelduck.
Source: Wiktionary
Shel"drake`, n. Etym: [Sheld + drake.]
1. (Zoöl.)
Definition: Any one of several species of large Old World ducks of the genus Tadorna and allied genera, especially the European and Asiatic species. (T. cornuta, or tadorna), which somewhat resembles a goose in form and habit, but breeds in burrows.
Note: It has the head and neck greenish black, the breast, sides, and forward part of the back brown, the shoulders and middle of belly black, the speculum green, and the bill and frontal bright red. Called also shelduck, shellduck, sheldfowl, skeelduck, bergander, burrow duck, and links goose.
Note: The Australian sheldrake (Tadorna radja) has the head, neck, breast, flanks, and wing coverts white, the upper part of the back and a band on the breast deep chestnut, and the back and tail black. The chestnut sheldrake of Australia (Casarca tadornoides) is varied with black and chestnut, and has a dark green head and neck. The ruddy sheldrake, or Braminy duck (C. rutila), and the white-winged sheldrake (C. leucoptera), are related Asiatic species.
2. Any one of the American mergansers.
Note: The name is also loosely applied to other ducks, as the canvasback, and the shoveler.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
23 February 2025
(noun) an advantageous purchase; “she got a bargain at the auction”; “the stock was a real buy at that price”
The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.
