'Pelican ibis' definitions:

Definition of 'Pelican ibis'

From: GCIDE
  • Pelican \Pel"i*can\ (p[e^]l"[i^]*kan), n. [F. p['e]lican, L. pelicanus, pelecanus, Gr. peleka`n, peleka^s, pele`kanos, the woodpecker, and also a water bird of the pelican kind, fr. peleka^n to hew with an ax, fr. pe`lekys an ax, akin to Skr. para[,c]u.] [Written also pelecan.]
  • 1. (Zool.) Any large webfooted bird of the genus Pelecanus, of which about a dozen species are known. They have an enormous bill, to the lower edge of which is attached a pouch in which captured fishes are temporarily stored. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: The American white pelican ({Pelecanus erythrorhynchos}) and the brown species ({Pelecanus fuscus}) are abundant on the Florida coast in winter, but breed about the lakes in the Rocky Mountains and British America. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. (Old Chem.) A retort or still having a curved tube or tubes leading back from the head to the body for continuous condensation and redistillation. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: The principle is still employed in certain modern forms of distilling apparatus. [1913 Webster]
  • Frigate pelican (Zool.), the frigate bird. See under Frigate.
  • Pelican fish (Zool.), deep-sea fish ({Eurypharynx pelecanoides}) of the order Lyomeri, remarkable for the enormous development of the jaws, which support a large gular pouch.
  • Pelican flower (Bot.), the very large and curiously shaped blossom of a climbing plant (Aristolochia grandiflora) of the West Indies; also, the plant itself.
  • Pelican ibis (Zool.), a large Asiatic wood ibis ({Tantalus leucocephalus}). The head and throat are destitute of feathers; the plumage is white, with the quills and the tail greenish black.
  • Pelican in her piety (in heraldry and symbolical art), a representation of a pelican in the act of wounding her breast in order to nourish her young with her blood; -- a practice fabulously attributed to the bird, on account of which it was adopted as a symbol of the Redeemer, and of charity.
  • Pelican's foot (Zool.), a marine gastropod shell of the genus Aporrhais, esp. Aporrhais pes-pelicani of Europe. [1913 Webster]