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petrel

pet·rel

UK/ˈpɛt.ɹəl/ uncommon

noun

1.

relatively small long-winged tube-nosed bird that flies far from land

Origin

From earlier pitteral. Perhaps a diminutive of Peter, with reference to St. Peter's walking on the water (Matthew 14:29). A derivation from patter or pitter-patter has been suggested, for instance by ornithologist Elliott Ladd Coues.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.