Also 8 alk, 8–9 awk. [cogn. with Sw. alka, Da. alke:—ON. álka.] A northern sea-bird, with short wings used only as paddles: applied scientifically to three species, the Great Auk (Alca impennis), Little Auk (Mergulus melanoleucus or alle), Razor-bill (Alca torda); but dialectally also to the guillemots, which with the puffins are included in the Alcidæ.

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[1580.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 140. Ill husbandry drowseth At fortune so auke: Good husbandry rowseth himselfe as a hauke.]

2

1678.  Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., 323. The Bird called the Razor-bill in the West of England, the Auk in the North, the Murre in Cornwal.

3

1796.  Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 17. The alks build upon rocks.

4

1856.  Kane, Arctic Expl., I. xxiv. 320. Wounded awks.

5

1865.  Gosse, Land & Sea (1874), 44. That rarest of British birds, the great auk.

6

1866.  Edmondston, Orkney Gloss., 4. Auk, the common guillemot.

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