Phrase 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.
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noun
A cormorant-like bird which symbolizes the English city of Liverpool.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
The etymology of the first element is uncertain. Perhaps simply a clipping of Liverpool. However, the word was identified in Randle Holme III's Academie of Armorie (1688) with German Löffler (“spoonbill”), as well as Low Dutch (i.e. Low German) forms cited as "Lepler, or Lepelner, or Lefler". If this etymology is true, it might have been adopted due to the rebus this word made on the name Liverpool. Also compare Dutch lepelaar (“spoonbill”). Either way, the modern vowel in the first syllable is unexplained.
