Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
Atlantic puffin noun
- See under puffin.
puffin [puhf-in] noun
- any of several alcidine sea birds of the genera Fratercula and Lunda, having a short neck and a large, compressed, grooved bill, as F. arctica (Atlantic puffin), of the North Atlantic.
Origin of puffin 1300–50; Middle English poffoun, poffin, puffon (compare Anglo-Latin poffo, puffo); origin uncertain British Dictionary definitions for atlantic puffin puffin noun
- any of various northern diving birds of the family Alcidae (auks, etc), esp Fratercula arctica (common or Atlantic puffin), having a black-and-white plumage and a brightly coloured vertically flattened bill: order Charadriiformes
Word Origin for puffin C14: perhaps of Cornish origin Word Origin and History for atlantic puffin puffin n.
North Atlantic seabird, mid-14c., perhaps connected with puff on notion of appearance, or from some Celtic word (earliest association is with Cornwall and Scilly), and altered by influence of puff.