Cormorant

(Lev. 11:17; Deut. 14:17), Heb. shalak, “plunging,” or “darting down,” (the Phalacrocorax carbo), ranked among the “unclean” birds; of the same family group as the pelican. It is a “plunging” bird, and is common on the coasts and the island seas of Palestine. Some think the Hebrew word should be rendered “gannet” (Sula bassana, “the solan goose”); others that it is the “tern” or “sea swallow,” which also frequents the coasts of Palestine as well as the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan valley during several months of the year. But there is no reason to depart from the ordinary rendering. In Isa. 34:11, Zeph. 2:14 (but in R.V., “pelican”) the Hebrew word rendered by this name is ka’ath. It is translated “pelican” (q.v.) in Ps. 102:6. The word literally means the “vomiter,” and the pelican is so called from its vomiting the shells and other things which it has voraciously swallowed. (See PELICAN.)

the representative in the Authorized Version of the Hebrew words kaath and shalac . As to the former, see Pelican. Shalac occurs only as the name of an unclean bird in (Leviticus 11:17; 14:17) The word has been variously rendered. The etymology points to some plunging bird. The common cormorant (phalacrocorax carbo), which some writers have identified with the shalac, is unknown in the eastern Mediterranean; another species is found south of the Red Sea, but none on the west coast of Palestine.

COR'MORANT (the plunger), a bird mentioned as unclean in Lev 11:17; Deut 14:17. In two other passages a word meaning the Pelican, which see, is translated "cormorant." The true cormorant is found along the salt and fresh waters of Syria, and is certainly a "plunger," so that there is no reason for a change in the passages of the Pentateuch, as some have suggested. These birds are as large as the raven, of a dark color, with long necks, webbed feet, feed upon fish, and are proverbial for their voracity. See cut on p. 203.

COR'MORANT (the plunger), a bird mentioned as unclean in Lev 11:17; Deut 14:17. In two other passages a word meaning the Pelican, which see, is translated "cormorant." The true cormorant is found along the salt and fresh waters of Syria, and is certainly a "plunger," so that there is no reason for a change in the passages of the Pentateuch, as some have suggested. These birds are as large as the raven, of a dark color, with long necks, webbed feet, feed upon fish, and are proverbial for their voracity. See cut on p. 203.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. 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.