From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishterntern /tɜːn $ tɜːrn/ noun [countable] HBBa black and white sea bird that has long wings and a tail with two points
Examples from the Corpus
tern• We identified two different types of albatross, four species of petrel, and a tern.• Only the egrets, spoonbill, and least tern, however, faced actual extinction before help arrived.• They have been known to swim to an offshore tern colony and kill dozens of chicks and adults in a single night.• Rare species like the roseate tern, which breeds on our rocky islands, are severely threatened in their wintering areas.• The Forster's tern occurs year-round in our area.• This has to be the most elegant and beautiful of all the tern tribe.• The tern is swift, turning tightly among the flock to avoid the pirate.Origin tern (1600-1700) From a Scandinavian language 