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# pelican

«pelican» in Mova's school dictionary: **a large water bird with a very long beak and a big…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a pelican, pelicans)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A pelican is a large water bird with a very long beak and a big stretchy pouch of skin under it, which it uses to scoop up fish. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pelican/#m1)

2) (UK) A pelican crossing is a road crossing with traffic lights that people control by pressing a button. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pelican/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons the pelican shows how a beak is adapted to food: the pouch works like a fishing net, then the water drains out before swallowing. Pelicans live by seas, lakes and rivers in many warm countries, including Australia and the USA. In road safety lessons in the UK, you learn to cross at a pelican crossing and wait for the green man. Phrases: pelican pouch, pelican crossing, brown pelican, Australian pelican.

### examples

- The pelican scooped up a fish in its pouch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pelican/#x1)
- Pelicans fly in long lines just above the waves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pelican/#x2)
- A pelican's beak can hold more than its stomach. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pelican/#x3)
- We saw pelicans on the jetty at the beach. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pelican/#x4)
- Press the button at the pelican crossing and wait for the green man. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pelican/#x5)
- The Australian pelican has the longest beak of any bird. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pelican/#x6)
- Brown pelicans dive into the sea from high up. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pelican/#x7)
- The pelican shook the water out of its pouch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pelican/#x8)
- Storks and pelicans flew after him in feathery bands, to accompany him to the boundaries of the garden. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pelican/#x9)

### note

Countable: one pelican, two pelicans. Pronounced «PEL-ih-kun». A UK pelican crossing (PEdestrian LIght CONtrolled) is different from a zebra crossing (black and white stripes, no lights) and a puffin or toucan crossing (newer types). Myth: pelicans do not keep fish stored in their pouch for later; they swallow quickly.

### In the corpora

- [A pelican's pouch scoops up about 10 litres of water, like a bucket, which it drains before swallowing the fish.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/374-ukraine-s-waters-danube-delta-pelicans-black-sea-dolphins-sturgeon-and-gobies/3/)
- [and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the carrion-vulture;](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/LEV.272/)
- [and the pelican, and the carrion-vulture, and the cormorant;](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/DEU.418/)
- [I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am become as an owl of the waste places.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.1777/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «pelican» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pelican/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.