hooded sheldrake
- noun
- /ˈhʊdɪd ˈʃɛldrɪk/
- US
- The male hooded sheldrake is famous for its striking black-and-white crest.
Examples
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We spotted a hooded sheldrake gliding quietly across the pond at dawn.
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During migration season, several hooded sheldrakes visit the wetlands near our town.
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The hooded sheldrake is known for its distinctive crest.
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Have you ever seen a hooded sheldrake in the wild?
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During migration season, several hooded sheldrakes visit the wetlands near our town.
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The male hooded sheldrake is famous for its striking black-and-white crest.
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We spotted a hooded sheldrake gliding quietly across the pond at dawn.
Synonyms
A small North American duck whose male has tall round feathers on his head
A small duck from North America with a round crest on the male's head
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward adjective + noun combination: 'hooded' means having a hood-like marking and 'sheldrake' is a type of duck, so the phrase denotes a sheldrake with a hood or crest. The meaning follows regular English attributive adjective patterns and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the sense.
Etymology
Hooded sheldrake gets its name from the bird's look: hooded refers to the male's hood-like crest and sheldrake means a male 'duck', so the name describes a small duck whose male shows a striking hood of feathers.