whooper swan

plural whooper swans

1. A species of swan, Cygnus cygnus, of the taxonomic family Anatidae.

   The thought of life with him filled her with exultation. She could leap up, like the whooper swan, spread her silver wings, and shout her song of rapture and of defiance, like a trumpet.

   1880, Sabine Baring-Gould, chapter 7, in Mehalah: A Story of the Salt Marshes, London: Smith, Elder & Co., published 1884, page 103

   1 more example

   By mid-morning they are back with huge catches: birds with their necks twisted, slung from poles row upon row by their feet, or crammed alive into wooden cages, screaming with outrage, trampling each other, with sometimes a great silent whooper swan crouched in their midst.

   1980, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 3, in Waiting for the Barbarians, London: Secker & Warburg, pages 78–79