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Webster 1913 Edition

Cormorant

Cor′mo-rant

(kôr′mō̍-rant)
,
Noun.
[F.
cormoran
, fr. Armor.
mōr-vran
a sea raven;
mōr
sea +
bran
raven, with
cor
, equiv. to L.
corvus
raven, pleonastically prefixed; or perh. fr. L.
corvus marinus
sea raven.]
1.
(Zool.)
Any species of
Phalacrocorax
, a genus of sea birds having a sac under the beak; the shag. Cormorants devour fish voraciously, and have become the emblem of gluttony. They are generally black, and hence are called
sea ravens
, and
coalgeese
.
[Written also
corvorant
.]
2.
A voracious eater; a glutton, or gluttonous servant.
B. Jonson.

Webster 1828 Edition

Cormorant

CORMORANT

,
Noun.
[Cormorant is supposed to be corrupted from corvus marinus, sea raven. The Welsh also call the fowl morvran, sea crow.]
1.
The water raven, a large fowl of the pelican kind; the head and neck are black; the coverts of the wings, the scapulars and the back are of a deep green, edged with black and glossed with blue. The base of the lower mandible is covered with a naked yellow skin, which extends under the chin and forms a sort of pouch. This fowl occupies the cliffs by the sea, feeds on fish, and is extremely voracious.
2.
A glutton.

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