gannet

English

Gannets

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

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

Quotations

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

Synonyms

• (voracious eater): see Thesaurus:glutton

Derived terms

• northern gannet, Morus bassanus
• Australasian gannet, Morus serrator
• Cape gannet, Morus capensis

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
• Maori: karake, tākapu
• 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, British) 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.