Mother Carey's chicken
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Mother Car·ey's chicken
(kâr′ēz)n.
A petrel, especially a storm-petrel.
[Possibly alteration and partial translation of Medieval Latin māter cāra, Virgin Mary : Latin māter, mother + Latin cāra, feminine of cārus, dear; see kā- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Mother Carey's chicken
(ˈkɛərɪz)n
(Animals) another name for storm petrel
[origin unknown]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
Moth′er Car′ey's chick′en
(ˈkɛər iz)n.
[1760–70; orig. uncertain]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Noun | 1. | ![]() storm petrel - any of various small petrels having dark plumage with paler underparts genus Oceanites, Oceanites - a genus of Hydrobatidae |
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