Cormorant
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Smith's Bible Dictionary
Cormorant

the representative in the Authorized Version of the Hebrew words kaath and shalac . As to the former, see PELICAN. Shalac occurs only as the name of an unclean bird in (Leviticus 11:17; 14:17) The word has been variously rendered. The etymology points to some plunging bird. The common cormorant (phalacrocorax carbo), which some writers have identified with the shalac , is unknown in the eastern Mediterranean; another species is found south of the Red Sea, but none on the west coast of Palestine.

ATS Bible Dictionary
Cormorant

A water bird about the size of a goose. It lives on fish, which it catches with great dexterity; and is so voracious and greedy, that its name has passed into a kind of proverbial use. The Hebrew word translated "cormorant" in Isaiah 34:11 Zephaniah 2:14, should rather be translated, as it is in other passages, "pelican," Le 11:17.

Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Leviticus 11:17; Deuteronomy 14:17), Hebrews shalak, "plunging," or "darting down," (the Phalacrocorax carbo), ranked among the "unclean" birds; of the same family group as the pelican. It is a "plunging" bird, and is common on the coasts and the island seas of Palestine. Some think the Hebrew word should be rendered "gannet" (Sula bassana, "the solan goose"); others that it is the "tern" or "sea swallow," which also frequents the coasts of Palestine as well as the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan valley during several months of the year. But there is no reason to depart from the ordinary rendering.

In Isaiah 34:11, Zephaniah 2:14 (but in R.V., "pelican") the Hebrew word rendered by this name is ka'ath. It is translated "pelican" (q.v.) in Psalm 102:6. The word literally means the "vomiter," and the pelican is so called from its vomiting the shells and other things which it has voraciously swallowed. (see PELICAN.)

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
1. (n.) Any species of Phalacrocorax, a genus of sea birds having a sac under the beak; the shag. Cormorants devour fish voraciously, and have become the emblem of gluttony. They are generally black, and hence are called sea ravens, and coalgeese.

2. (n.) A voracious eater; a glutton, or gluttonous servant.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
CORMORANT

kor'-mo-rant (shalakh; kataraktes; Latin Corvus marinus): A large sea-fowl belonging to the genus Phalacrocorax and well described by the Hebrew word used to designate it-which means a "plunging bird." The bird appears as large as a goose when in full feather, but plucked, the body is much smaller. The adult birds are glossy black with bronze tints, touched with white on the cheeks and sides as a festal dress at mating season, and adorned with filamentary feathers on the head, and bright yellow gape. These birds if taken young and carefully trained can be sent into the water from boats and bring to their masters large quantities of good-sized fish: commonly so used in China. The flesh is dark, tough and quite unfit to eat in the elders on account of their diet of fish. The nest is built mostly of seaweed. The eggs are small for the size of the birds, having a rough, thick, but rather soft shell of a bluish white which soon becomes soiled, as well as the nest and its immediate surroundings, from the habits of the birds. The young are leathery black, then covered with soft down of brownish black above and white beneath and taking on the full black of the grown bird at about three years. If taken in the squab state the young are said to be delicious food, resembling baked hare in flavor. The old birds are mentioned among the abominations for food (Leviticus 11:13-19 Deuteronomy 14:12-18).

Gene Stratton-Porter

Strong's Hebrew
7994. shalak -- (bird of prey) probably cormorant
... 7993, 7994. shalak. 7995 . (bird of prey) probably cormorant. Transliteration:
shalak Phonetic Spelling: (shaw-lawk') Short Definition: cormorant. ...
/hebrew/7994.htm - 6k

6893. qaath -- (a bird) perhaps pelican
... cormorant. From qow'; probably the pelican (from vomiting) -- cormorant. see HEBREW
qow'. 6892, 6893. qaath or qaath. 6894 . Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/6893.htm - 6k

Library

On a Piece of Chalk. A Lecture to Working Men.
... many hundred feet high, with vast needles and pinnacles standing out in the sea,
sharp and solitary enough to serve as perches for the wary cormorant, confer a ...
/.../huxley/lay sermons addresses and reviews/ix on a piece of.htm

The Eighth Commandment
... (2) God hates them. In the law, the cormorant was unclean, because a thievish,
devouring creature, a bird of prey; by which God showed his hatred of this sin. ...
/.../watson/the ten commandments/2 8 the eighth commandment.htm

Whether There was any Reasonable Cause for the Ceremonial ...
... The cormorant, so constituted that it can stay a long time under water, denotes
the glutton who plunges into the waters of pleasure. ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether there was any reasonable.htm

Deliverance from Assyria
... should be brought low, Zephaniah prophesied of Nineveh: "Flocks shall lie down in
the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the ...
/.../white/the story of prophets and kings/chapter 30 deliverance from assyria.htm

Of Antichrist, and his Ruin: and of the Slaying the Witnesses.
The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3. <. ...
/.../bunyan/the works of john bunyan volumes 1-3/of antichrist and his ruin .htm

Thesaurus
Cormorant (4 Occurrences)
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. CORMORANT. kor ... Gene Stratton-Porter.
Multi-Version Concordance Cormorant (4 Occurrences). Leviticus ...
/c/cormorant.htm - 10k

Bittern (4 Occurrences)
... Again in Isaiah 34:11 in the King James Version, in pronouncing judgment against
Idumaea, he wrote, "But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it." In ...
/b/bittern.htm - 14k

Vulture (16 Occurrences)
... They fed on carcasses of animals that killed each other, ate putrid fish under the
nests of pelican and cormorant, followed caravans across the desert, and ...
/v/vulture.htm - 14k

Owl (11 Occurrences)
... NAS NIV). Leviticus 11:17 the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV). Leviticus 11 ...
/o/owl.htm - 18k

Birds (125 Occurrences)
... every raven after its kind, and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew,
and the hawk after its kind, and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the ...
/b/birds.htm - 62k

Abomination (78 Occurrences)
... every raven after its kind, and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew,
and the hawk after its kind, and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the ...
/a/abomination.htm - 55k

Zoology
... Falcon COLUMBAE: Dove, Turtle-Dove GALLINAE: Cock, Partridge, Quail, Peacock
GRALLATORES: Crane, Heron, Stork STEGANOPODES: Pelican, Cormorant RATTAE: Ostrich ...
/z/zoology.htm - 18k

Unclean (393 Occurrences)
... Version gives them as follows: eagle, gier eagle, osprey, kite, falcon, glede, every
raven, ostrich, night-hawk, sea-mew, hawk, little owl, cormorant, great owl ...
/u/unclean.htm - 39k

Osprey (4 Occurrences)
... eagle, and the vulture, and the osprey, (WEB RSV). Deuteronomy 14:17 and
the pelican, and the vulture, and the cormorant, (See NIV). ...
/o/osprey.htm - 8k

Lintels (1 Occurrence)
... Zephaniah 2:14 And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of
the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper ...
/l/lintels.htm - 6k

Resources
Is there any special meaning/symbolism to owls in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

Cormorant: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

Bible ConcordanceBible DictionaryBible EncyclopediaTopical BibleBible Thesuarus
Concordance
Cormorant (4 Occurrences)

Leviticus 11:17
the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Deuteronomy 14:17
and the pelican, and the vulture, and the cormorant,
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Isaiah 34:11
But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.
(KJV WBS)

Zephaniah 2:14
And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; for he shall uncover the cedar work.
(KJV WBS)

Subtopics

Cormorant

Cormorant: A Bird Forbidden As Food

Related Terms

Bittern (4 Occurrences)

Vulture (16 Occurrences)

Owl (11 Occurrences)

Birds (125 Occurrences)

Abomination (78 Occurrences)

Zoology

Unclean (393 Occurrences)

Osprey (4 Occurrences)

Lintels (1 Occurrence)

Gier-eagle (4 Occurrences)

Gier (2 Occurrences)

Threshholds (3 Occurrences)

Pelican (5 Occurrences)

Pelicans

Corinthus

Carrion-vulture (2 Occurrences)

Uncover (35 Occurrences)

Elamites (2 Occurrences)

Elam (24 Occurrences)

Eagle (27 Occurrences)

Wanderings (7 Occurrences)

Corn (107 Occurrences)

Upper (99 Occurrences)

Israel (27466 Occurrences)

Corinthus
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