marabou

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • n marabou the downy feathers of marabou storks are used for trimming garments
    • n marabou large African black-and-white carrion-eating stork; its downy underwing feathers are used to trim garments
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  • Interesting fact: The flamingoes of East Africa have few natural enemies. In general, the only predators an adult flamingo need fear are the fish eagle and the marabou stork.
    • Marabou A kind of thrown raw silk, nearly white naturally, but capable of being dyed without scouring; also, a thin fabric made from it, as for scarfs, which resembles the feathers of the marabou in delicacy, -- whence the name.
    • Marabou (Zoöl) A large black-and-white carrion-eating stork of the genus Leptoptilosformerly Ciconia), esp. the African species (Leptoptilus crumeniferus syn. Leptoptilos crumenifer), whose downy under-wing feathers are used to trim garments; called also marabout. The Asiatic species (Leptoptilos dubius, or Leptoptilos argala) is the adjutant. See Adjutant.
    • Marabou One having five eighths negro blood; the offspring of a mulatto and a griffe.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • n marabou A kind of stork, more commonly called marabou-stork.
    • n marabou A kind of raw silk which is peculiarly white and can be dyed without being freed from its natural gum: so called from the resemblance of its delicate fibers to marabou-feathers.
    • n marabou The variety of negro which springs from a mulatto and a griffe: so called by the French of Louisiana.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • n Marabou mar′a-bōō a species of Indian stork, the feathers of which are much used as ornaments by ladies: a very white raw silk.
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
F

Usage

In literature:

It was one o'clock in the morning of the 2d of July when we landed on the soil of Egypt, at Marabou, three leagues to the west of Alexandria.
"Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete" by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne
Then I looked again, and it was a marabou stork.
"Sketches of the East Africa Campaign" by Robert Valentine Dolbey
You're looking rather weedy, standing on one leg like a marabou stork!
"A harum-scarum schoolgirl" by Angela Brazil
One of the largest of these storks is the marabou.
"Harper's Young People, May 11, 1880" by Various
Marabou fighting with Hyenas, 385.
"Harper's Young People, 1880 Index" by Various
Clouds hovered over us, delicate and fleecy as the feathers of the marabou, and white and curly as the feathers of the ostrich.
"A Republic Without a President and Other Stories" by Herbert Ward
A gigantic fan of snow-white marabou feathers served as a screen for the stove.
"The Undying Past" by Hermann Sudermann
Her little thin fingers were stiff with rings, as though set in brilliants; and she held a white marabou fan in her hand.
"The Hidden Force" by Louis Couperus
My robe is long and trailing with marabou around the neck.
"Nan Sherwood's Summer Holidays" by Annie Roe Carr
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In news:

The Herald's Mike Benbow shows you how to make an effective lure using bright pink marabou feathers, the favorite color of the humpy salmon.
heraldnet.com
A six-foot marabou feather boa (craft stores carry them) creates this skunk 's stripes, while its head and tail are a soft fake fur.
rd.com
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