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Glite Dictionary
black-backed gull

black-backed gull

7.5
A large white sea bird with a black back and wings that lives by the coast
  • noun
  • /blæk bækt ɡʌl/
translation icon : gaviota de espalda negra
  • The black-backed gull perched on the rocks, watching the fishermen below for scraps.

Examples

  • And there, at low tide ever after, a black-backed gull sat, turning its head curiously at each passing breeze.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • As we approached the beach, a great cloud of black-backed gulls—really, a surprising number for such a small island—rose into the wind, shrieking furiously.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • At the beach, we spotted a black-backed gull gracefully gliding over the waves.

  • During our coastal hike, we saw a black-backed gull searching for food among the tide pools.

Synonyms

Larus marinus
vsblack-backed gull
  • Specialized
9.6

A large white sea bird with a black back and wings on North Atlantic coasts

is broader covering similar birds across Northern Hemisphere coastal regions
great black-backed gull
vsblack-backed gull
  • UK
8.1

A large white sea bird with black back and wings found on North Atlantic coasts

is more general applying to similar birds beyond the North Atlantic

Surface Forms

black-backed gull singular
black-backed gulls plural

Morphology

black-backed + gull

The compound is a straightforward adjective+noun description: 'black-backed' means having a black back and 'gull' is a coastal bird, so a learner who knows those words can infer it denotes a gull with a black back. This descriptive, compositional naming pattern is common in English (and across languages for animal names), making the meaning immediately recoverable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Black-backed gull comes from the bird's look: its black back and wings against a white body, often seen by the sea. So the name means 'a type of gull with a black back'.