garganey
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gar·ga·ney
(gär′gə-nē)n. pl. gar·ga·neys
A small migratory duck (Anas querquedula) that breeds in Eurasia and has a white stripe over each eye.
[Popularized as a name for the species after being mentioned by Conrad Gesner in his Historiae Animalium, from Lombard (dialect of the Swiss canton of Ticino) gargenei, a diminutive formation (probably making reference to its feeding by skimming rather than dabbling or to the male's distinctive rattling call like a guiro or washboard) akin to Italian garganella in bere a garganella, to take a continuous drink by holding a bottle high and pouring it into the mouth, and Old Italian garganello, throat, both probably ultimately from dissimilation of earlier *gargalella, diminutive of *gargala, throat, from Late Latin gargala, trachea, from a root *garg-, throat, imitative of gargling (compare Greek gargareōn, uvula, trachea).]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
garganey
(ˈɡɑːɡənɪ)n
(Animals) a small Eurasian duck, Anas querquedula, closely related to the mallard. The male has a white stripe over each eye
[C17: from Italian dialect garganei, of imitative origin]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
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Noun | 1. | garganey - small Eurasian teal teal - any of various small short-necked dabbling river ducks of Europe and America |
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