noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any of several species of large Antarctic petrels, especially Pachyptila turtur (the blue petrel) and Pachyptila desolata.
2. 2
   The sooty tern Australia

Etymology

From whale + bird, because they have been known to follow whaling vessels to feed on the blubber and floating oil.

Related phrases

blue petrelpachyptila desolatapachyptila turtur

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.