marabou
Americannoun
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any of three large storks of the genus Leptoptilus, of Africa or the East Indies, having soft, downy feathers under the wings and tail that are used for making a furlike trimming for women's hats and garments.
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one of the feathers.
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the trimming or material made of the feathers.
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thrown silk that can be dyed without being scoured.
noun
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a large black-and-white African carrion-eating stork, Leptoptilos crumeniferus, with a very short naked neck and a straight heavy bill See also adjutant bird
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a down feather of this bird, used to trim garments
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a fine white raw silk
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fabric made of this
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Etymology
Origin of marabou
1815–25; < French marabout literally, marabout
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But this is not a blood-and-guts show business exposé — it’s a diaphanous portrait of a woman who, like Anderson herself, wafts through life like a marabou feather.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 9, 2025
The devastation has already seen flocks of marabou storks and other birds that perched and nested on the trees migrate to tall buildings in the city centre.
From BBC • Nov. 26, 2021
She chose metallic leathers, embroidered satins and rich brocades, but “deliberately avoided the fluffy marabou look because this isn’t a new-wave housewife shoe. I’m a working woman.”
From The Guardian • Sep. 25, 2020
Tuleste drop marabou earrings, $195 at Nordstrom, shopnordstrom.com.
From New York Times • Nov. 21, 2018
My robe is long and trailing with marabou around the neck.
From Nan Sherwood's Summer Holidays by Carr, Annie Roe
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
