cormorant Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun large voracious dark-colored long-necked seabird with a distensible pouch for holding fish; used in Asia to catch fish
    Phalacrocorax carbo.

WordNet

Cor`mo*rant noun
Etymology
F. cormoran, fr. Armor. mr-vran a sea raven; mr sea + bran raven, with cor, equiv. to L. corvus raven, pleonastically prefixed; or perh. fr. L. corvus marinus sea raven.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) Any species of Phalacrocorax, a genus of sea birds having a sac under the beak; the shag. Cormorants devour fish voraciously, and have become the emblem of gluttony. They are generally black, and hence are called sea ravens, and coalgeese. Written also corvorant.
  2. A voracious eater; a glutton, or gluttonous servant. B. Jonson.

Webster 1913