sheldrake
pronunciation
How to pronounce sheldrake in British English:
UK ['ʃeldreɪk]
How to pronounce sheldrake in American English:
US ['ʃeldreɪk]
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- Noun:
- large crested fish-eating diving duck having a slender hooked bill with serrated edges
- Old World gooselike duck slightly larger than a mallard with variegated mostly black-and-white plumage and a red bill
Word Origin
- sheldrake (n.)
- early 14c., from sheld- "variegated" + drake "male duck." First element cognate with Middle Dutch schillede "separated, variegated," West Flemish schilde, from schillen (Dutch verschillen "to make different"), from Proto-Germanic *skeli-, from PIE root *(s)kel- (1) "to cut" (see scale (n.1)). This is the origin considered most likely, though English sheld by itself is a dialect word attested only from c. 1500. OED finds derivation from shield (n.), on resemblance to the patterns on shields, "improbable."
Example
- 1. Mr. sheldrake wasn 't using me . I was using him . See ?
- 2. North cyberspace , inc. 99 cambridge circle loch sheldrake , ny 12759 united states .
- 3. There is a summer camp in loch sheldrake , new york , that has nurtured some well-known hollywood actors .
- 4. You know mr. sheldrake ?
- 5. Sheldrake added the notion of contagion - " morphic resonance " - which causes behaviour patterns to suddenly emerged in whole populations .