penguin

plural penguins · alternative obsolete pinguin

1. Any of several flightless sea birds, of the family Spheniscidae within the order Sphenisciformes, found in the Southern Hemisphere, marked by their usual upright stance, walking on short legs, and (generally) their stark black and white plumage.First known use 16th c.

   Here are also birds cal'd Pen-gwins (white-head in Welch) like Pigmies walking upright, their finns or wings hanging very orderly downe like sleeves […]

   1638, Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels, section I

2. historicalobsoleteAn auk (sometimes especially a great auk), a bird of the Northern Hemisphere.

   More than a hundred years ago, for example, was seen the last of the great wingless penguins or auks, which early writers quaintly called " wobble-birds."

   1885, Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York

   1 more example

   This last species of penguin, or auk, seems to be the same with the alca cirrhata of Dr. Pallis, Spicileg. Zool. Fasc. v. p. 7. tab. i. & v. fig. 1–3. F.

   1772 March, “Account of the Settlement of the Malouines”, in The Gentleman's and London Magazine, page 166

3. slangA nun.

   Jake (John Belushi): What are we doing here? Elwood (Dan Aykroyd): You promised you'd visit the penguin the day you got out. Jake: Yeah. So, I lied to her. Elwood:You can't lie to a nun. We gotta go in and visit the penguin.

   1980, Dan Aykroyd, The Blues Brothers (motion picture)

4. artsA type of catch where the palm of the hand is facing towards the leg with the arm stretched downward, resembling the flipper of a penguin.
5. UKslanggovernmentA member of the air force who does not fly aircraft.

   This was to be my home for three months where ground officer cadets, referred to colloquially as ‘penguins’ were trained.

   2019 November 5, Derek Esp, An Adventure in Education: The Autobiography of an Accidental Career in Education, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 46

   3 more examples

   Although it is a permanent R.A.F. station (pre-war, that is), we meander about, even in the Mess, in battle dress and flying boots, sweaters, etc., much to the disgust of some of the more dignified 'penguins' […]

   1942, Hermann Hagedorn, Sunward I've Climbed, page 143

   Notwithstanding his elevated status as the wing’s Senior Intelligence Officer, Monty, too, was a “penguin,” equal in that respect to an armament assistant, airframe mechanic, pigeon loftsman or any of the seventy-odd ground trades listed by the Royal Canadian Air Force at the war’s end.

   1994, Monty Berger, Invasions without tears: the story of Canada's top-scoring Spitfire wing in Europe during the Second World War, →ISBN, →LCCN, page xi

   She may have been a “penguin”—an Air Force service member who didn't fly—but it sure beat being at home, as Brady had pointed out.

   2015 June 1, Kate Christie, In the Company of Women, Bella Books, →ISBN, →OCLC

1. A town in Central Coast Council, northern Tasmania, Australia.