Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
A young harp seal after its second moult.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Canada
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: harp seal, saddleback seal, true seal, earless seal, phocid, seal, pinniped, marine mammal, mammal, vertebrate, animal
History
Borrowed from French bête de la mer. The construction and spelling of the loanword was evidently influenced by Bedlam and bedlam, suggesting reanalysis as bedlam + -er. This seems all the more plausible given that these seals are sometimes quite vocal, doing a lot of barking, yelling, and mumbling.
