canvasback

canvasback Definition

☆ canvas·back (-bak′)

noun pl. -·backs′ or -·back′

a large, North American wild duck (Aythya valisneria) with a brownish-red head, dark breast, and light-gray back, hunted as a game bird

Etymology: < the grayish, canvaslike appearance of the back

canvasback Usage Examples

Adjective modifier

male: But American vagrants were far from absent, with the male Canvasback returning to Abberton Reservoir and two Ring-billed Gulls by the Thames.

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