guano
pronunciation
How to pronounce guano in British English:
UK [ˈgwɑ:nəʊ]
How to pronounce guano in American English:
US [ˈgwɑnoʊ]
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- Noun:
- the excrement of sea birds; used as fertilizer
Word Origin
- guano (n.)
- c. 1600, from Spanish guano "dung, fertilizing excrement," especially of sea-birds on islands off Peru, from Quechua huanu "dung."
Example
- 1. Between 1840 and 1880 , guano nitrogen made a vast difference to european agriculture .
- 2. Japan points to 19th century use on the island to collect seabird feathers and guano .
- 3. By the 1900s traders had stripped the guano penguins hid their eggs in and the birds have had to lay them on bare ground exposed to scavengers .
- 4. By the early 1900s guano deposits tens of feet deep had been scraped to bare rock and southern right whales had been hunted almost out of existence .
- 5. In the dry uplands of chile , rich mineral nitrate deposits were then found , and gradually took the place of guano in the late 19th century .