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Webster 1913 Edition

Puffin

Puf′fin

(pŭf′fĭn)
,
Noun.
[Akin to
puff
.]
1.
(Zool.)
An arctic sea bird
Fratercula arctica
) allied to the auks, and having a short, thick, swollen beak, whence the name; – called also
bottle nose
,
cockandy
,
coulterneb
,
marrot
,
mormon
,
pope
, and
sea parrot
.
☞ The name is also applied to other related species, as the horned puffin (
Fratercula corniculata
), the tufted puffin (
Lunda cirrhata
), and the razorbill.
Manx puffin
,
the Manx shearwater. See under
Manx
.
2.
(Bot.)
The puffball.
3.
A sort of apple.
[Obs.]
Rider’s Dict. (1640).

Webster 1828 Edition

Puffin

PUFF'IN

,
Noun.
A water fowl of the genus Alca or auk.
1.
A kind of fish.
2.
A kind of fungus with dust; a fuzzball.

Definition 2024

puffin

puffin

English

Noun

puffin ‎(plural puffins)

  1. (now obsolete) The young of the Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), especially eaten as food. [14th–19th c.]
  2. The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica).
  3. Any of the other various small seabirds of the genera Fratercula and Lunda that are black and white with a brightly-colored beak. [from 17th c.]
    • 1894, Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, The White Seal:
      Naturally the Chickies and the Gooverooskies and the Epatkas–the Burgomaster Gulls and the Kittiwakes and the Puffins, who are always looking for a chance to be rude, took up the cry, and–so Limmershin told me–for nearly five minutes you could not have heard a gun fired on Walrus Islet.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

French

Etymology

From English puffin.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pyfɛ̃/

Noun

puffin m ‎(plural puffins)

  1. shearwater

Etymology

A puffin

From Middle English, apparently from puff + -ing, or perhaps ultimately from Middle Cornish (compare Breton poc'han ‎(“puffin”)).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpʌfɪn/
  • Rhymes: -ʌfɪn

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