gannet

English

Northern gannets (Morus bassanus)

Etymology

From Middle English ganet, gante, from Old English ganot, from Proto-West Germanic *ganat, *ganatō, from Proto-Germanic *ganatuz, *ganutô (“gander”), ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *ganzô.

Cognates

Cognate with Dutch gent, Middle Low German gante, German Ganter, Ganser, all “gander, male goose”.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡænɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ænɪt

Noun

gannet (plural gannets)

1. Any of three species of large seabird in the genus Morus, of the family Sulidae. They have black and white bodies and long pointed wings, and hunt for fish by plunge diving and pursuing their prey underwater.
   • 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 527:

     Not but that they were kind and humane to a distressed sailor, if ever one had the good luck to get to land; and many a time, indeed, did Jack put out in his little corragh, that would breast the billows like any gannet, to lend a hand towards bringing off the crew from a wreck.

2. (chiefly UK, South Africa) A voracious eater; a glutton.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:gannet.

Synonyms

• (voracious eater): see Thesaurus:glutton

Derived terms

• Australasian gannet (Morus serrator)
• booby gannet (Sula spp.)
• Cape gannet (Morus capensis)
• common gannet (Morus bassanus)
• gannetry
• gannet's bath
• masked gannet
• North Atlantic gannet, northern gannet (Morus bassanus)

Translations

sea bird

• Asturian: mazcatu (ast), cofre (ast)
• Catalan: mascarell m
• Czech: terej (cs) m
• Dutch: jan-van-gent (nl) m
• Estonian: suula (et)
• Faroese: súla (fo) f
• Finnish: suula (fi)
• French: fou (fr) m
• Galician: mascato m
• German: Basstölpel (de) m, Tölpel (de) m
• Greek: σούλα (el) f (soúla)
• Greenlandic: timmik (Morus bassanus)
• Hungarian: szula (hu) sg
• Icelandic: súla (is) f
• Ido: ganeto (io)
• Irish: gainéad (ga) m, ogastún m
• Italian: sula (it) f
• Macedonian: блуна f (bluna)
• Māori: karake, tākapu
• Naga:

  Khiamniungan Naga: khìamvèu

• Navajo: taahilnoodii
• Norman: mauve à maq'thé f, mèrgaud m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sule m or f

• Old English: ganot m
• Polish: głuptak (pl) m
• Portuguese: alcatraz m
• Romanian: gâscă de mare f
• Russian: о́луша (ru) f (óluša)
• Scottish Gaelic: sùlaire m, (young) guga m
• Spanish: alcatraz (es) m
• Welsh: hugan f, gwylanwydd f

glutton — see glutton

Verb

gannet (third-person singular simple present gannets, present participle ganneting, simple past and past participle ganneted)

1. (chiefly transitive, informal, UK) To wolf down, gobble or eat (something) voraciously.
   • Gaynor Kay, Pebble in the Grass (page 115)

     She was no longer in the company of her older sister and mother who had often scolded her for ganneting down her food.