pochard
(ˈpəʊtʃ-, ˈpəʊkəd, ˈpɒtʃ-, ˈpɒkəd)
Forms: α. 6 pocharde, (8 poachard), 7– pochard. β. 6–9 pocard, 7 pocker, -ard, 9 pockard, 7– poker.
[Of uncertain origin: perh. augmentative of OF. and mod.F. poche, in mod.F. poche-cuiller the spoonbill: see -ard. (But there is little likeness between the pochard and the spoonbill.) It might also be a deriv. of poach v.2, poke v.1 The pronunciation seems quite unfixed. Prof. A. Newton makes the ch = k; but Johnson made it as in poacher.]
A European diving bird, Fuligula or æthyia ferina, of the family Anatidæ, characterized by the bright reddish-brown colour of the head and neck; also called red-headed pochard, poker, wigeon, red-eyed poker, dun-bird. Also applied to other species, as the African p., æthyia or Fuligula capensis; the red-crested p., F. or Nyroca rufina, of India; the tufted p., A. or F. cristata, of Europe and Asia; and in U.S. to the red-head, Anas americana.
| α 1552 Elyot, Boscha, a water foule like to a ducke, but somwhat lesse: I iudge it a pocharde. 1611 Cotgr., Albrent,..a Pochard. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. iii. 367 The Poker, or Pochard, or great read-headed Wigeon. 1752 J. Hill Hist. Anim. 431 The Anas, with grey wings, and a black rump. The Pochard. 1755 Johnson, Poachard, a kind of water fowl. 1820 Jodrell s.v., I know no reason, why Johnson should have..printed this word..differently from any other author, and spelled it ‘poachard’. 1882 Three in Norway viii. 65 A brood of pochards under the leadership of the old duck. 1894 Speight Nidderdale 203 The bittern, pochard, scaup, common scoter and the tufted duck have been seen in the park. 1894 Newton Dict. Birds 734 Pochard, Pockard or Poker, names properly belonging to the male of a species of Duck (the female of which is known as the Dunbird). |
| β 1598 Florio, Bosca, a bird called a pocard. 1674 Dent Let. in Ray's Lett. (1718) 21, I have put up in a Box some Water Fowl, viz. a Pocker, a Smew,..a Widgeon, and a Whewer. 1678 Poker [see α]. 1706 Phillips, Pocard, a kind of water-fowl. 1709 Derham in Phil. Trans. XXVI. 466 Anas fera fusca... The Poker. 1768 Pennant Zool. II. 470 The Pochard... In London markets..known by the name of Dun birds. 1843 Yarrell Hist. Birds III. 233 The Pochard, or Dun-bird, for this species is known by various names, as Red-headed Poker, and Red-eyed Poker..is a winter visiter to this country. 1895 A. Patterson Man & Nature 85 We blazed away several times, pickin' up near twenty pokers (pochards). |
b. attrib. and
Comb., as
pochard-duck;
pochard-grass,
dial. some water-plant,
app. a species of Polygonum (Newton
Dict. Birds 735 note).
| 1833 Baird in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. No. 1. 16 He had..received..a specimen of the pochard duck (Anas ferina Lin.). 1879 R. Lubbock Fauna Norf. 137 A particular weed,—Pochard Grass, as it is called. |