Definition

Noun: 1. A mostly white aquatic bird having long pointed wings and short legs: A common coastal bird, often seen near oceans, lakes, and rivers, known for its loud calls and scavenging behavior.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • A lone sea gull circled high above the fishing boat, waiting for scraps.
  • The sound of sea gulls is a familiar part of the harbor's atmosphere.
  • We fed pieces of bread to the sea gulls at the pier.

Advanced Usage

• "to be mobbed by sea gulls": To be surrounded by a noisy, aggressive group of gulls, often when they are seeking food.
  • As soon as she opened her bag of chips, she was mobbed by sea gulls.
• Figurative use for a scavenger: Used to describe a person who eagerly takes things discarded by others.
  • At the end of the market, sea gulls descended on the leftover produce.

Variants and Related Words

• Gull (n): The more general and common term for the same bird. "Sea gull" is a specific type of gull.
• Seagull (n): A common alternative spelling, often written as one word.
• Larid (n): The biological family name for gulls and related birds.

Synonyms

• Gull: The direct synonym.
• Mew: A term for certain types of gulls, especially the common gull ().

Related Phrases

• To gull someone (verb, archaic): To trick or deceive someone. This is etymologically related but has a very different modern meaning.
  • He was gulled into buying a fake painting.

Related Idioms

• "To have a memory like a sea gull": A humorous idiom suggesting a very short memory or an inability to retain information, playing on the bird's perceived behavior.
  • Don't rely on him to remember the details; he has a memory like a sea gull.

Noun

1. mostly white aquatic bird having long pointed wings and short legs