| any of several long-winged seabirds, often used as food, esp. Puffinus tenuirostris (short-tailed shearwater) of Australia and Puffinus griseus (sooty shearwater), which breeds in the Southern Hemisphere and winters in the Northern Hemisphere. |
| mut·ton-bird (mŭt'n-bûrd') n. See sooty shearwater. |
| sooty shearwater n. A shearwater (Puffinus griseus) of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, having sooty gray or brown plumage and dark bill and feet. Also called mutton-bird. |