sea-crow

English

Etymology 1

Calque of Latin corvus maritimus (“cormorant”).

Noun

sea-crow (plural sea-crows)

  1. (chiefly regional) Any of various birds which may be found at sea or along the coast, especially those of a size or color similar to a crow, or with similar habits:
    1. A gull.
      • For quotations using this term, see Citations:sea-crow.
    2. A chough (Pyrrhocorax spp.).
      • For quotations using this term, see Citations:sea-crow.
    3. A cormorant (Phalacrocoracidae spp.).
      • For quotations using this term, see Citations:sea-crow.
Alternative forms

Etymology 2

Named either for its dark colour, or from the noise it makes when caught, which is fancied to resemble a crow's caw.[1]

Noun

sea-crow (plural sea-crows)

  1. (rare) A fish, the Chelidonichthys lucerna (syn. Trigla hirundo) or sapphirine gurnard.
    • 1722, Oppian, Oppian's Halieuticks of the Nature of Fishes and Fishing of the Ancients, page 229:
      [...] the Sea-Crow[, so called] from his Blackness.
    • 1952, William Diaper, Complete Works, page 137,244:
      [page 137:] And here the Dory spends his easy Days. / Here Sea-Crows dwell, nam'd from their dusky Hue, / And tim'rous Shade-Fish the blind Haunts pursue. [page 244:] Here sea-crows dwell, and the lov'd haunt pursue, / Smeetch'd with dark stain, and nam'd from dusky hue.

References

  1. ^ Georges Cuvier (17 May 2012) The Animal Kingdom: Arranged in Conformity with Its Organization, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 279:
    T. hirundo, called also the tub-fish, and by Pennant the Sapphire gurnard, is found in the North Sea, […] Mediterranean, and also about […] Southern Africa. […] The older naturalists have called it the sea crow, from a noise emitted by it on being taken, which fancy has assimilated to that of the crow.
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