gannet
/ˈɡanɪt
/noun
1A large seabird with mainly white plumage, which catches fish by plunging into the water.
- Genus Morus (or Sula), family Sulidae: three species, in particular the northern gannet (M. bassanus) of the North Atlantic (also called solan goose).
- While there are few wild animals in Iceland, there is abundant birdlife - ducks, geese and, among the many sea-birds I spotted, petrels, puffins, tern, gannets, skuas and shearwaters.
- Usually you can expect to see great numbers of pelagic birds - gannets, shearwaters, jaegers, storm-petrels, alcids - that live mainly at sea.
2British informal A greedy person.Do you find yourself saying "I shouldn't eat that, but I'm such a gannet that I'm going to"?
Origin
Old English ganot, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gent 'gander', also to gander.
Old English ganot is Germanic in origin and related to Dutch gent ‘gander’. The word is used sometimes to describe a greedy person—first used of a greedy sailor in 1920s slang.
Rhymes
- unemployed
- unemployment
- unemployment benefit
- unemployment compensation
- unenclosed
- unencrypted
- unencumbered
- unending
- unendingly
- unendingness
- unendowed
- unendurable
- unendurably
- unenergetic
- unenforceable
- unengaged
- un-English
- unenjoyable
- unenlightened
- unenlightening
- unenlightenment
- unenriched
- unentangle
- unenterprising
- unenthused