calloon.
/kəˈluː/, U.S. /kəˈlu/, Scottish English /kəˈlu/, /kɔˈlu/ Scottish (chiefly Orkney and Shetland).
A kind of duck found in the Arctic; esp. the long-tailed duck, Clangula hyemalis, which is a winter visitor to Orkney and Shetland.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > subfamily Merginae (duck) > [noun] > clangula hyemalis (old squaw)
hound1623
old wife1634
swallow-tailed duck1678
swallow-tailed sheldrake1678
calloo1793
south-southerly1814
oldsquaw1834
long-tail1837
granny1888
sea pheasant1893
1793 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. V. 189 Lyres, calloos, wildgeese.
1793 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. VII. 546 The calaw.
1806 P. Neill Tour Orkney & Shetl. 79 The calloo—named from its evening call, which resembles the sound calloo, calloo,—arrives from the arctic regions in autumn, and spends the winter here.
1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 161 From its long plaintive cry it has received the names of Caloo, or Calaw (Orkney, Shetland Isles).
1893 Proc. Royal Physical Soc. Edinb. 1890–92 11 72 Laurenson, of Lerwick, got three eggs from a Conningsburgh man, which were said to have been undoubted eggs of the ‘Calloo’.
1904 Ann. Sc. Nat. Hist. July 155 The weird cry of the ‘Calloo’..and the crisp sound of the boat ploughing through the thin ice, furnish the musical accompaniment.
1961 W. B. Lockwood Faroese Bird Names 11 The other Scandinavian languages, too, widely use onomatopoeic forms for this duck [i.e. the long-tailed duck], thus Or. kaloo, also baloo, Sh. kallu, Sw. alfägel.
2014 60 North Winter 35/1 Sea-ducks are a constant feature of winter in Lerwick, with many visiting Long-tailed Ducks or ‘Calloos’, as they are known here in Shetland.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.1793