ˈkȯrm(ə)rənt, ˈkȯ(ə)m-; -məˌrant, -raa(ə)nt noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English cormeraunt, from Middle French cormorant, cormaran, from Old French cormareng, from corp raven (from Latin corvus ) + marenc of the sea, from Latin marinus — more at raven , marine
1. : any of various dark-colored web-footed seabirds (family Phalacrocoracidae) that have a long neck, stiff wedge-shaped tail, slender hooked beak, and a patch of bare often brightly colored distensible skin under the mouth, that occur on most tropical and temperate seacoasts of the world but more abundantly in the southern hemisphere, that are used in parts of eastern Asia for catching fish by having a band placed about the throat to prevent them from swallowing their catch, and that are such voracious eaters of fish that they have become an emblem of gluttony
2. : a gluttonous, greedy, or rapacious person
the bead-eyed cormorants of lost estates, who love to rummage into fusty rooms — Howard Griffin
[a place seeker's] cormorant appetite for office — John Quincy Adams
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