What is "albatross"

Albatross \Al"ba*tross\, n. [Corrupt. fr. Pg. alcatraz cormorant, albatross, or Sp. alcatraz a pelican: cf. Pg. alcatruz, Sp. arcaduz, a bucket, fr. Ar. al-q[=a]dus the bucket, fr. Gr. ka`dos, a water vessel. So an Arabic term for pelican is water-carrier, as a bird carrying water in its pouch.] (Zo["o]l.) A web-footed bird, of the genus Diomedea, of which there are several species. They are the largest of sea birds, capable of long-continued flight, and are often seen at great distances from the land. They are found chiefly in the southern hemisphere.

1670s, probably from Spanish or Portuguese alcatraz "pelican" (16c.), perhaps derived from Arabic al-ghattas "sea eagle" [Barnhart]; or from Portuguese alcatruz "the bucket of a water wheel" [OED], from Arabic al-qadus "machine for drawing water, jar" (from Greek kados "jar"), in reference to the pelican's pouch (compare Arabic saqqa "pelican," literally "water carrier"). Either way, the spelling was influenced by Latin albus "white." The name was extended, through some mistake, by English sailors to a larger sea-bird (order Tubinares).\n

\nAlbatrosses were considered good luck by sailors; figurative sense of "burden" (1936) is from Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) about the bad luck of a sailor who shoots an albatross and then is forced to wear its corpse as an indication that he, not the whole ship, offended against the bird. The prison-island of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay is named for pelicans that roosted there.

n. 1 Any of various large seabirds of the family Diomedeidae ranging widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific and having a hooked beak and long narrow wings. 2 (context golf English) A double eagle, or three under par on any one hole. 3 (context idiomatic English) A long-term impediment, burden, or curse.

1. n. (figurative) something that hinders or handicaps; "she was an albatross around his neck" [syn: millstone]

2. large web-footed birds of the southern hemisphere having long narrow wings; noted for powerful gliding flight [syn: mollymawk]

Albatross (1968–1998) was a bay Standardbred horse by Meadow Skipper. He was voted Harness Horse of the Year in 1971 and 1972. Albatross won 59 of 71 starts, including the Cane Pace and Messenger Stakes in 1971, earned $1,201,477. It was, however, as a sire that he really made his mark. Albatross's 2,546 sons and daughters won $130,700,280.

The Albatross was an American sports car venture that was planned in 1939, but never got off the ground. The plan had been to market an ultra-streamlined four-seat tourer body, built on a standard Mercury chassis which was extended to a 137" wheelbase, based on a European custom-made car owned by cartoonist Peter Arno. The proposed car was advertised in at least one periodical, and at least one was built.

"Albatross" is a guitar-based instrumental by Fleetwood Mac, released as a single in November 1968, later featuring on the compilation albums The Pious Bird of Good Omen (UK) and English Rose (US). It was a major hit in several countries and became Fleetwood Mac's only Number 1 hit in the UK Singles Chart, spending one week at the top. It was re-released in the UK as a single in 1973, and peaked at Number 2 in the charts. The piece was composed by Peter Green. The single has sold over 900,000 copies in the UK.

An albatross is one of a family of large winged seabirds.

Albatross or Albatros may also refer to:

Albatross is the fourth episode of the second season of the animated science fiction television series Star Trek, the 20th episode overall. It first aired in the NBC Saturday morning lineup on September 28, 1974, and was written by Dario Finelli.

In this episode, Dr. McCoy is arrested and charged with mass murder committed 19 years earlier.

Albatross is the debut studio album by the American rock band The Classic Crime. released in 2006 on Tooth & Nail Records. To date, it has sold over 40,000 copies, and reached No. 12 on the Top Heatseekers.

"Albatross" is a sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus. It is particularly known for its opening lines: "Albatross! Albatross! Albatross!"

The sketch first appeared on British television on 11 January 1970 in Episode 13 of the first series, "Intermission." It features John Cleese and Terry Jones. Despite its short running time (40 seconds) it has proven to be quite memorable for Python fans and was frequently performed during the team's live shows.

"Albatross" is the lead single and title track from Big Wreck's 2012 album, Albatross. It is Big Wreck's first single released after being reunited in 2010 and their first single release since 2002. A 16-second preview clip of the song was released on October 24, 2011. The song was first streamed in its entirety on the Thornley/ Big Wreck website on November 17, 2011, and was officially released digitally on November 21. The song held the No. 1 position on the Billboard Canadian Rock chart for six weeks straight. In 2012, the song won the CASBY Award for "Favourite New Single".

The word albatross is sometimes used metaphorically to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse.

It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798). In the poem, an albatross starts to follow a ship — being followed by an albatross was generally considered a sign of good luck. However, the titular mariner shoots the albatross with a crossbow, which is regarded as an act that will curse the ship (which indeed suffers terrible mishaps). Even when they are too thirsty to speak, the ship's crew let the mariner know through their glances that they blame his action for the curse. He feels as though the albatross is metaphorically hung around his neck - that is, when people look at him, they see him as the albatross killer and that weighs on him. Thus the albatross can be both an omen of good or bad luck, as well as a metaphor for a burden to be carried as penance.

The symbolism used in the Coleridge poem is its highlight. For example:

This sense is catalogued in the Oxford English Dictionary from 1936 and 1955, but it seems only to have entered general usage in the 1960s, or possibly as early as 1959.

Also, the word albatross is used in Letter II, Volume One of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, in which Robert Walton is speaking to his sister and states, "…but I shall kill no albatross…", an allusion quite clearly referring to the poem by her close acquaintance, Coleridge. The novel was first published in 1818, long before the term was introduced into the Oxford Dictionary.

Charles Baudelaire's collection of poems Les Fleurs du mal contains a poem entitled L'Albatros about men on ships who catch the albatrosses for sport. In the final stanza, he goes on to compare the poets to the birds — exiled from the skies and then weighed down by their giant wings, till death.

Finally, in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, there is a reference to Coleridge's albatross which is extended to fit the narrative's focus on the symbolic connotations of whiteness.

See The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in popular culture. Even in the poem Snake by D.H. Lawrence he mentions the killing of Albatross by the mariner.

Albatross is a 2011 British coming-of-age comedy drama film directed by Niall MacCormick and written by Tamzin Rafn. It stars Sebastian Koch, Julia Ormond, Felicity Jones and Jessica Brown Findlay. The film's premise revolves around a teenage aspiring writer entering the lives of a dysfunctional family living in the south coast of England. " Albatross" is a metaphor used to describe a constant and inescapable burden.

The film was shot entirely on the Isle of Man with the support of the Island's government. It is MacCormick's feature film debut, having previously made his name in television. Also making her debut was screenwriter Tamzin Rafn. Rafn based the script on her own experiences as a rebellious teenager.

Albatross premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2011. It was released in the United Kingdom on 14 October 2011. While the film has gathered mixed reviews, Brown Findlay has received near-universal praise for her performance.

Albatross is the third studio album by Canadian rock band Big Wreck. It is the band's first album since their 2001 release The Pleasure and the Greed, and the first without original members Dave Henning and Forrest Williams. The album was released on March 6, 2012. The lead single and title track of the album, " Albatross", was released on November 21, 2011. On March 26, the band released a music video of the album's second single, "Wolves".

In 2012, the album won the CASBY Award for "Favourite New Album". The album was nominated for Rock Album of the Year at the 2013 Juno Awards.

Albatross is a general purpose programming language which can be verified statically.

Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds allied to the procellariids, storm petrels and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific. They are absent from the North Atlantic, although fossil remains show they once occurred there and occasional vagrants are found. Albatrosses are among the largest of flying birds, and the great albatrosses ( genus Diomedea) have the largest wingspans of any extant birds, reaching up to . The albatrosses are usually regarded as falling into four genera, but there is disagreement over the number of species.

Albatrosses are highly efficient in the air, using dynamic soaring and slope soaring to cover great distances with little exertion. They feed on squid, fish and krill by either scavenging, surface seizing or diving. Albatrosses are colonial, nesting for the most part on remote oceanic islands, often with several species nesting together. Pair bonds between males and females form over several years, with the use of "ritualised dances", and will last for the life of the pair. A breeding season can take over a year from laying to fledging, with a single egg laid in each breeding attempt. A Laysan albatross, named Wisdom, on Midway Island is recognised as the oldest wild bird in the world; she was first banded in 1956 by Chandler Robbins.

Of the 22 species of albatross recognised by the IUCN, all are listed as at some level of concern; 3 species are Critically Endangered, 5 species are Endangered, 7 species are Near Threatened, and 7 species are Vulnerable. Numbers of albatrosses have declined in the past due to harvesting for feathers, but today the albatrosses are threatened by introduced species, such as rats and feral cats that attack eggs, chicks and nesting adults; by pollution; by a serious decline in fish stocks in many regions largely due to overfishing; and by longline fishing. Longline fisheries pose the greatest threat, as feeding birds are attracted to the bait, become hooked on the lines, and drown. Identified stakeholders such as governments, conservation organisations and people in the fishing industry are all working toward reducing this bycatch.