pelican

• pelecan (archaic)

From Middle English pellican, pellicane, from Old English pellican (“pelican”), from Latin pelecānus, from Ancient Greek πελεκάν (pelekán), πέλεκυς (pélekus, “hatchet”).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛl.ɪ.kən/, /ˈpɛl.ə.kən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

pelican (plural pelicans)

2. Any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae, having a long bill with a distendable pouch.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter III, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 54:

     The old have outlived that mental world we so misname in calling it a world of enjoyment;—they have outlived the feverish dreams which waste those keen hopes—the pelicans of the heart, feeding on the life-blood of their parent;—they have now no part in the excitement of success, whether in its desire or disappointment.

   • 1981, Gene Wolfe, chapter VIII, in The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun; 2), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 71:

     Pelicans fly below us with stiffly formal strokes, and gulls wheel and keen.

3. A native or resident of the American state of Louisiana.
4. (chemistry, obsolete) A retort or still having a curved tube or tubes leading back from the head to the body for continuous condensation and redistillation.
5. (dentistry) A set of forceps used to force overcrowded teeth apart.

   Synonym: dental pelican

6. (Canada, slang, firefighting) A waterbomber.
7. (slang) An ageing prostitute.

• “pelican n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
• Eric Partridge (2005) “pelican”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 2 (J–Z), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1461.

• Calpine, capelin, capline, in place, panicle, pinacle

pelican m (plural pelicans)

1. pelican

pelican

1. alternative form of pellican

From Latin pelicānus.

• Audio:

  (file)

pelican m (plural pelicans)

1. pelican (any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae)

• pelican australian
• pelican cresp
• pelican del Pero
• pelican ròsa
• pelican vulgar

• pelecan — dated

Borrowed from French pélican, from Latin pelicānus. Compare Aromanian pilican.

• IPA^(key): /pe.liˈkan/

pelican m (plural pelicani)

1. pelican (any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae)

• pelican comun
• pelican creț
• pelicanol

• pelecaniforme

• steganipod

• “pelican”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

Borrowed from English pelican.

pelican m (plural pelicanod)

1. pelican (seabird of the family Pelecanidae)

   Synonym: pelig

• croesfan pelican (“pelican crossing”)
• pelican Dalmatia (“Dalmatian pelican”)
• pelican gwyn (“great white pelican”)
• pelican gwyn America (“American white pelican”)