pelican

plural pelicans · alternative archaic pelecan

1. Any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae, having a long bill with a distendable pouch.

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

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

   1 more example

   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.

   1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter III, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 54

2. A native or resident of the American state of Louisiana.
3. obsoletechemistryA retort or still having a curved tube or tubes leading back from the head to the body for continuous condensation and redistillation.
4. dentistryA set of forceps used to force overcrowded teeth apart.

   Synonyms: dental pelican

5. CanadaslangfirefightingA waterbomber.
6. slangAn ageing prostitute.

1. A place in Australia:
   1. A suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales.
   2. A rural locality in Western Downs Region, Queensland.
2. A place in the United States:
   1. A minor city on Chichagof Island, Alaska.
   2. An unincorporated community in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana.
   3. A township in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, named after Pelican Lake (Crow Wing County, Minnesota).
   4. A township in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, named after the Pelican River (Otter Tail River tributary).
   5. A town in Oneida County, Wisconsin, named after Pelican Lake (Oneida County, Wisconsin).