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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Widgeon

Widgeon \Widg"eon\, n. [Probably from an old French form of F. vigeon, vingeon, gingeon; of uncertain origin; cf. L. vipio, -onis, a kind of small crane.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of fresh-water ducks, especially those belonging to the subgenus Mareca, of the genus Anas. The common European widgeon ( Anas penelope) and the American widgeon ( Anas Americana) are the most important species. The latter is called also baldhead, baldpate, baldface, baldcrown, smoking duck, wheat, duck, and whitebelly. Bald-faced widgeon, or Green-headed widgeon, the American widgeon. Black widgeon, the European tufted duck. Gray widgeon.

  1. The gadwall.

  2. The pintail duck. Great headed widgeon, the poachard. Pied widgeon.

    1. The poachard.

    2. The goosander.

      Saw-billed widgeon, the merganser.

      Sea widgeon. See in the Vocabulary.

      Spear widgeon, the goosander. [Prov. Eng.]

      Spoonbilled widgeon, the shoveler.

      White widgeon, the smew.

      Wood widgeon, the wood duck.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
widgeon

migratory wild duck, 1510s, perhaps from a northern variant of French vigeon, which some trace to Latin vipionem (nominative vipio), "a kind of small crane," a Balearic word, perhaps imitative, with an evolution of form similar to that which produced pigeon. But the French word is later than the English one, and OED finds all this "very dubious." Applied to different species in Europe and America.

Wiktionary
widgeon

n. (alternative spelling of wigeon English)

WordNet
widgeon

n. freshwater duck of Eurasia and northern Africa related to mallards and teals [syn: wigeon, Anas penelope]

Wikipedia
Widgeon (disambiguation)

Wigeon, or Widgeon, mainly refers to a group of three duck species of the genus Anas.

It may also refer to:

  • 8440 Wigeon, main belt asteroid
  • Grumman Widgeon, American, 1940's, amphibian aircraft
  • HMS Widgeon, Royal Navy schooner, launched in 1806
  • Wackett Widgeon, Australian, 1920's, amphibious aircraft
  • Westland Widgeon (helicopter), a helicopter
  • Westland Widgeon (fixed wing), British, 1920's, civil, light aircraft
  • Widgeon, California, a former town in Modoc County
  • USS Widgeon, the name of two US Navy Ships
  • O'Day Widgeon (sailboat)

Usage examples of "widgeon".

Wilson snipe, sandhill crane, Gadwall and canvas-back and red-bill Merganser ducks, American widgeon, red-necked grebe, Dunlin sandpiper, red-winged starling, and scores of equally fantastic prey.

She catalogued her town: a library, four pharmacies, three banks, a gymnasium for power-lifting and another that metamorphosed into a billiard hall, a market twice a week, a hypermarket that had opened with feathery widgeon stuffed in the freezer and now sold frozen pizza, a cordon of new pink apartment buildings and cinema on Fridays.

Of such therefore as are bred in our land, we have the crane, the bitter,the wild and tame swan, the bustard, the heron, curlew, snite, wildgoose, wind or doterell, brant, lark, plover (of both sorts), lapwing, teal, widgeon, mallard, sheldrake, shoveller, peewitt, seamew, barnacle, quail (who, only with man, are subject to the falling sickness), the knot, the oliet or olive, the dunbird, woodcock, partridge, and pheasant, besides divers others, whose names to me are utterly unknown, and much more the taste of their flesh, wherewith I was never acquainted.

Rapidly, we scanned mallard, Muscovy, harlequin, scoter, ruddy, and American widgeon, and then dozens more.

Quiston and Caleb had been duck hunting the day before, and we'd had two mallards and a widgeon for supper, stuffed with rice and filberts.

You could see pintails, teal, widgeon, both males and females in winter plumage, and there were wild ducks that I had never seen with plumage as delicate and complicated as our wood ducks.

There was a big Grumman Widgeon amphibian there, with two 300-horsepower radial engines, the new one-piece windscreen, mirrors on the wingtip floats so the pilot can check that the wheels are up before landing on the water.