HOW TO PRONOUNCE
pelican
/ˈpɛl.ɪ.kən/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
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What does pelican mean?
noun
- Any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae, having a long bill with a distendable pouch.
- A native or resident of the American state of Louisiana.
- A set of forceps used to force overcrowded teeth apart.
More meanings (10)
noun
- (slang) A waterbomber.
- (slang) An ageing prostitute.
- (obsolete) A retort or still having a curved tube or tubes leading back from the head to the body for continuous condensation and redistillation.
proper noun
- A suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales.
- A rural locality in Western Downs Region, Queensland.
- A minor city on Chichagof Island, Alaska.
- An unincorporated community in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana.
- A township in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, named after Pelican Lake (Crow Wing County, Minnesota).
- A township in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, named after the Pelican River (Otter Tail River tributary).
- A town in Oneida County, Wisconsin, named after Pelican Lake (Oneida County, Wisconsin).
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈpɛl.ɪ.kən/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
To his good friends thus wide I’ll ope my arms; And, like the kind life-rendering pelican, Repast them with my blood.
To dream of a pelican, denotes a mingling of disappointments with successes.
More book examples (3)
The ant was an almost heraldic symbol of industry, as the lion was of courage, or, for the matter of that, the pelican of charity.
In the Nuit de Mai, the earliest of these songs of despair, we have the poet's symbol of the pelican giving its entrails as food to its starving young.
By way of bric-a-brac, he has a stuffed pelican and a crane with a frog in its mouth, also a raccoon sitting on a log, and a varnished tarpon.