cormophyte (kor mofit)

[ cormophytic (kôr-mō-fit'ik), a. [ Cormopoda (kôr-mop'ō-da), n. pl. [NL., mar i = Sp. cuervo marino = Pg. corvomarinho = It. corvo marino, sea, + bran, crow.] I. n. 1. A large totipalmate swimming and diving bird of the family Phala croc or acid a (which see for technical characters), There are about 25 species, of all parts of world, much resembling one another, and all usually comprised in the single genus Phalacrocorax. They are mostly maritime, but some inhabit fresh waters; they are gregarious, and in the breeding season some species congregate by you sands to breed on rocky ledges over the sea, or in swamps, build Common Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). ing a rude bulky nest, and laying from 1 to 3 whole-colored greenish eggs coated with a white chalky substance. Their principal food is fish, and their voracity is proverbial. The common cormorant of America, Europe, and Asia, Phalacrocorax carbo , which may be taken as the type 1268 of the whole, is about 3 feet long and 5 in extent, with a heavy body, long sinuous neck, a stout hooked bill about as long as the head, a naked gular pouch, stout strong wings, and 14 stiff tail-feathers denuded to the bases. The color is lustrous black, bronzed on the back, where the feathers have black edges; the feet are black; in the breeding season there is a white flank-patch; and on the head are scattered white thready plumes. The same or a similar species is domesticated by the Chinese and Japanese and taught to fish. A smaller species, the crested cormorant, P. cristatus, is found in and is known as the shag, a name also used for cormorants at large. The com monest North American species is the double-crested cormorant, P. dilophus, having only 12 tail-feathers (the number usual in the genus), the gular sac convex behind, and a crest on each side of the head. The Florida cormorant, which breeds by you sands in the mangrove swamps, is a variety of the last. On the Pacific coast of the United States several other species occur, as the violet-green cormorant ( P. violaceus ), the red-faced ( P. bicristatus ), the tufted ( P. penicil lat us ), and others. The Mexican cormorant, P. mexican us, is a small species which extends into the United States. A few species are largely white, and others are spotted. Thence up he [Satan] flew; and on the Tree of Life, The middle tree and highest there that grew, Sat like a cormorant . Milton , P. L., iv. 196. 2t. A greedy fellow; a glutton. Light vanity, insatiate cormorant, Consuming means, soon preys upon itself. Shak., Rich. II., ii. 1. Next, here's a rich devouring cormorant Comes up to town, with his leathern budget stuff'd Till it crack again, to empty it upon company Of spruce clerks and squalling lawyers. Beau , and Fl . (?), Faithful Friends, i. 2. In one night, ere glimpse of morn, His shadowy flail hath thresh'd the corn That ten day-labourers could not end. Milton, L'Allegro, 1. 108 Swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn , and skims along the main. Pope , E ay on Criticism, 1. 373. 4. A small hard particle; a grain. [Now rare.] Not a corn of true salt, not a grain of right mustard, amongst them all. B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, i. 1. Coffee-corn or guinea-corn, a variety of Sorghum vul gare extensively cultivated in many warm countries for its grain. The name guinea - corn is also applied in the West Indies to several grain-bearing species of Panicum . -InSee maize . Popped corn. See pop - corn. dian corn. see morat i on ), and a ociated with cornmudgin, curmudgeon, q. v.] A very avaricious person; a miser; a curmudgeon. When the Cormorants And wealthy farmers hoord up all the graine, He empties all his garners to the poore. No - body and Some - body (1600), 1. 320 (ed. Palmer). The covetous cormorants or corn - morants of his time. W. Smith, The Blacksmith (1606). When thou wast corn't an' I was mellow, We took the road aye like a swallow. Burns , The auld Farmer's Salutation to his auld Mare. 4. To plant with corn. [Rare.] Those hundreds of you sands of acres of once valuable Southern lands, corned to death, and now lying to waste in worthle sage gra . U. S. Cons. Rep . , No. 1x. (1886), p. 40. 5. To render intoxicated; make drunk, as with greedy; rapacious; insatiable. When, spite of cormorant devouring time, Th' endeavour of this present breath may buy That honour, which shall bate his scythe's keen edge. Shak ., L. L. L., i. 1. It underwent the proce of "annexation" to the cor morant republic of ancient times. Sumner, White Slavery. Cor mos to mat a (kôr-mo-stō'ma-tä), n. pl. [NL.,