pel1can, pelecan, pellican, pel11cane

[Fr. pélican, from Lat.pelican us, pele can us, from Gr. pelekan (gen it. pelekanos )=(1) a woodpecker, (2) a water-bird like a pelican, from the size of its bill; pelekaō -to hew with an ax; pelekus = an ax; Sp. & Port. pelicano; Ital. pellicano. 1. Ornith .: Any bird of the genus Pele can us (q. v.), and especially the Common Pelican, the Onocrotalos of the Greeks and Romans, and the Pele can us ono crotal us of modern science. Pelicans are large piscivorous water-fowl, with an enormous pouch, dependent from the flexible branches of the lower mandible, but capable of being contracted when not in use as a depository for food. The species are widely distributed, and frequent the shores of the sea, rivers, and lakes, feeding chiefly on fish, which they hunt in shallow water, the Pelican of this country ( P. fusc us ) being the only species which dives for its prey. The Common Pelican is about the size of a swan, though its enormous bill and loose plumage make it look considerably larger; it is white, slightly tinged with flesh-color, and the breast feathers become yellow in old birds. It usually nests on the ground, in some retired spot near the water, and lays two or three white eggs. The pelican sits during the night with its bill resting on its breast; and, as the book at the extremity of the bill is red, this may have given rise to the legend that the bird feeds its young with blood from its own breast [6], though it is po ible that the story has some foundation in fact. It is well known that the males of many species a iduously feed the hen-birds during incubation; and in 1869 the flamingoes in London Zoological Gardens were observed to eject into the mouth of the Cariamas, apparently in the belief that the latter were in want of food, a glutinous red fluid, which, on microscopical examination, was found to consist almost entirely of blood-corpuscles. 2. Script .: Heb. qaath , from a verb in the cognate anguages to vomit, seems to be the pelican (Lev. xi. 18. Deut. xiv. 17, Psalm cii. 6). In the A. V. it is mistranslated cormorant, in Isa. xxxiv. 11 and Zeph. ii. 14, the R. V. restoring uniformity by rendering it pelican. 3. Chem .: An alembic with a tubulated capital, from which two opposite and crooked beaks pa ed out, entering again at the belly of the cucurbit. 4. Dental Surg.: An instrument for extracting teeth, curved at the end like the beak of a pelican. *5. Ordnance: (1) An old 6-pounder culverin. ( Eng .) (2) A shot or shell from such a gun. ( Eng .) "The pelicans whistled round him." -Walpole : Letters, 111. 84. 6. Art : The pelican is the symbol of charity. It is generally represented wounding its breast to feed 3048 its young with its own blood-a tale told in the fabulous natural history of the middle ages, and which made the bird the adopted symbol of the Redeemer. When so represented the pelican is said to be" in her piety." In crucifixes the lamb is at the foot and the pelican at the top of the cro . Pelican in her Piety : [PELICAN, 6.] pelican-fish, s . Ichthy.: Eurypharynx pelicanoides , dredged from the French naturalists of the Travailleur expedia depth of 7,080 feet, near the Canary Islands, by tion. pelican-flower, s. Bot .: Aristolochia grandiflora . pěl'-I-can-ite, s. [Etym. doubtful.] Min.: A mineral included by Dana in the species Cimolite (q. v.). It is a product of the alteration of felspar. pěl-1-can-rỹ, s . [Formed from Eng. pelican , on analogy of heronry, rookery , .] A place where numbers of pelicans breed year after year. "I have visited one pelicanry in the Carnatic, where the Pelicans have (for ages, I was told) built their rude nests on rather low trees in the midst of a village."-Jerdon: Birds of India , ii. (pt. ii.), 860. pěl-1-coid, s. [PELECOID.] pē-11-õm, s. [ Gr.pelios =dark, in allusion to its 1. Min.: A name given to the Iolite (q. v.) from smoky-blue color.] Bodenmais, Bavaria. 2. Med .: An extravasation of blood of a livid color. pě-li e', s . [Fr. peli e (O. Fr. pelice )=a skin of fur; from Lat. pellicea , pellicia , fem. sing. of pelliceus , pellicius made of skins; pell is =a skin; Port. pelli a ; Ital. pelliccia ; O. H. Ger. pelliz; Ger. pelz ; Eng. pilch (q. v.).] IMG:content-0819.png:[blocks in formation] "To behold the traveler by rail divest himself of his fur peli e in thorough enjoyment of the artificially produced temperate atmosphere." -London Daily Telegraph. 2. A cloak of silk or other stuff worn by ladies. *II. Mil .: An undre jacket formerly worn by light dragoons or hu ars. It was "plain, double breasted, without ornament of any kind, with a rough, shaggy lining." ( Luard . ) pěl-ite, s . [Gr. pelos =clay; suff. -ite ( Petrol .).] Petrol .: A term including all clays, marls, clay slates, and slaty clays. mud. pě-lit-ic, a. [English pel it ( e ); -ic.] Formed of In Naumann's cla ification of clastic rocks, the pelitic rocks are one of three kinds which he discriminates. *pěll (1), s . [PEEL (3), s.] pells pěl'-lět, *per-et, *pel-ote, subst . [Fr. pelote , a dim in. from Lat. pila a ball; Sp. pelota =a ball, a cannon-ball; Ital. pillotta =a little ball.] I. Ordinary Language: 1. A gunstone; a ball to be discharged from a gun; a bullet. "As swifte as a pellet out of a gonne." Chaucer: House of Fame , iii. 553. 2. A little ball; as, a pellet of wax, a pellet of lead; one of the little balls composing small shot. "The frequent pellets whistle." -Lloyd : The Poet. II. Technically : 1. Her .: A black roundle, otherwise called ogre and gunstone, borne in coat-armor. 2. Numis .: A small, pellet-shaped bo .