auk
- n black-and-white short-necked web-footed diving bird of northern seas
- By landing triumphantly in Buzzards Bay, Wheeler brought the great auk back from extinction, at least in the human imagination.
- Looking somewhat like a dove-sized penguin, the little auk is helpless on land.
- Since the all but defenseless great auk provided a source of meat and oil, fishermen clubbed the birds to death by the millions on the rookeries off Newfoundland.