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Webster 1913 Edition

Noun.

[

Shear

water

; cf. G.

wassersherer

; – so called from its running lightly along the surface of the water.]

(Zool.)

Any one of numerous species of long-winged oceanic birds of the genus

Puffinus

and related genera. They are allied to the petrels, but are larger. The Manx shearwater (

Puffinus Anglorum

), the dusky shearwater (

Puffinus obscurus

), and the greater shearwater (

Puffinus major

), are well-known species of the North Atlantic. See

shearwater ‎(plural shearwaters)

Any of various long-winged pelagic seabirds in the genera Calonectris or Puffinus, of the family Procellariidae, that breed on islands and coastal cliffs.

seabird