goosander
(guːˈsændə(r))
Also 7 gossander, 8–9 gooseander.
[Of obscure formation. If the first element is goose, the word must be of some antiquity in English, to allow of the shortened vowel (goss-) which appears in the earliest forms; with the ending -ander cf. bergander and ON. ǫnd (pl. ander).]
The bird Mergus merganser, allied to the ducks but having a sharply serrated bill.
| 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxv. 65 The Gossander with them, my goodly Fennes doe show, His head as Ebon blacke, the rest as white as Snow. 1658 R. Franck North. Mem. (1821) 316 Nor would not any man think those conceptions very sordid, to prefer the goose to the gossander. 1674 Ray Collect. Words, Water Fowl 94 The Gossander or Bergander: Merganser, Aldr. 1766 Pennant Zool. (1768) II. 438 Mr. Willoughby too suspects that its male represents some bird similar to the Goosander. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. III. 270 The Gooseander feeds upon fish for which it dives. 1848 C. A. Johns Week at Lizard 334 Goosander (Mergus Merganser).—Often seen in the Helford river. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. vii. 269 Smews and goosanders, divers and loons. 1882 Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. 552 March 2nd, Goosander on the Teviot. |