From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishaukauk /ɔːk $ ɒːk/ noun [countable] HBBa black and white seabird with short wings
Examples from the Corpus
auk• Much the smallest and shortest-billed auk, also the smallest diving seabird.• The feather trade in great auks, eider, and other sea birds has been mentioned earlier.• The great auk is one of the few creatures whose final hours can be documented with such certainty.• Where had our gull and our auk spent the summer?• Neither formation provides ledges of any size or permanence, although small auk populations once nested on the chalk cliffs.• The least sociable auk, breeding in very loose colonies, in crevices of cliffs and rocks.• Two auks, blinking, waddled foolishly across the ledge.• In spring those cliffs are alive with auks and gulls, and my favourite bird, the gannet.Origin auk (1600-1700) Norwegian Icelandic alk, alka, from Old Norse alka 