Nearby Words
noun
1.
any of several large, web-footed sea birds of the family Diomedeidae that have the ability to remain aloft for long periods. Compare wandering albatross.
2.
a seemingly inescapable moral or emotional burden, as of guilt or responsibility.
3.
something burdensome that impedes action or progress.
4.
Textiles.
a.
a lightweight worsted fabric with a crepe or pebble finish.
b.
a plain-weave cotton fabric with a soft nap surface.
Origin:
1675–85; variant of algatross frigate bird < Portuguese alcatraz pelican, probably < Arabic al-ghaṭṭāṣ a kind of sea eagle, literally, the diver; -b- for -g- perhaps by association with Latin albus white (the bird's color)
1675–85; variant of algatross frigate bird < Portuguese alcatraz pelican, probably < Arabic al-ghaṭṭāṣ a kind of sea eagle, literally, the diver; -b- for -g- perhaps by association with Latin albus white (the bird's color)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To albatross
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Albatross
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Example Sentences
- But while it may be endangered, the albatross book is by no means extinct.
- The point is that the traditional college is fast becoming an albatross.
- Today he has become an albatross around their necks.
Collins
World English Dictionary
| albatross (ˈælbəˌtrɒs) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | See also wandering albatross any large oceanic bird of the genera Diomedea and Phoebetria, family Diomedeidae, of cool southern oceans: order Procellariiformes (petrels). They have long narrow wings and are noted for a powerful gliding flight |
| 2. | a constant and inescapable burden or handicap: an albatross of debt |
| 3. | golf a score of three strokes under par for a hole |
| [C17: from Portuguese alcatraz pelican, from Arabic al-ghattās, from al the + ghattās white-tailed sea eagle; influenced by Latin albus white: C20 in sense 2, from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) by Samuel Taylor | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
albatross
1670s, probably from Sp./Port. alcatraz "pelican," perhaps derived from Arabic al-ghattas "sea eagle;" or from Port. alcatruz "the bucket of a water wheel," from Arabic al-qadus "machine for drawing water, jar" (from Gk. kados "jar"), in reference to the pelican's pouch (cf. Arabic saqqa "pelican," lit.
EXPAND"water carrier"). Either way, the spelling was influenced by L. albus "white." The name extended, through some mistake, by Eng. sailors to a larger sea-bird (order Tubinares). Albatrosses were considered good luck by sailors; fig. sense of "burden" (1936) is from Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) about the bad luck of a sailor who shoots an albatross and then is forced to wear its corpse as an indication that he, not the whole ship, offended against the bird. The prison-island of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay is named for pelicans that roosted there.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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