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Goose barnacle

 - 4 dictionary results
Barnacle Goose
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goose barnacle

 
Use Goose barnacle in a Sentence
–noun
See under barnacle 1 (def. 1).
Origin:
1880–85
Barnacle Goose
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bar⋅na⋅cle

1  [bahr-nuh-kuhl]
–noun
1. any marine crustacean of the subclass Cirripedia, usually having a calcareous shell, being either stalked (goose barnacle) and attaching itself to ship bottoms and floating timber, or stalkless (rock barnacle or acorn barnacle) and attaching itself to rocks, esp. in the intertidal zone.
2. a person or thing that clings tenaciously.
Origin:
1580–85; perh. a conflation of barnacle barnacle goose with Cornish brennyk, Ir báirneach limpet, Welsh brenig limpets, reflecting the folk belief that such geese, whose breeding grounds were unknown, were engendered from rotten ships' planking

Related forms:
bar⋅na⋅cled, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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goose barnacle  
n.  Any of various barnacles of the genus Lapas, having a fleshy stalk that attaches to rocks or floating objects such as ship hulls. Also called gooseneck barnacle.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

barnacle 
c.1227, "species of wild goose;" as a type of "shellfish," first recorded 1581. Often derived from a Celtic source (cf. Bret. bernik "kind of shellfish"), but the application to the goose predates that of the shellfish in Eng. The goose nests in the Arctic in summer and returns to Europe in the winter, hence the mystery surrounding its reproduction. It was believed in ancient superstition to hatch from barnacle's shell, possibly because the crustacean's feathery stalks resemble goose down. The scientific name of the crustacean, Cirripedes, is from Gk. cirri "curls of hair" + pedes "feet."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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