stork

[ stawrk ]

noun

, plural storks, (especially collectively) stork.

1. any of several wading birds of the family Ciconiidae, having long legs and a long neck and bill. Compare adjutant stork, jabiru, marabou ( def 1 ), white stork, wood ibis.
2. the stork, this bird as the mythical or symbolic deliverer of a new baby:

   My brother and his wife are expecting the stork in July.

stork

/ stɔːk /

noun

1. any large wading bird of the family Ciconiidae, chiefly of warm regions of the Old World, having very long legs and a long stout pointed bill, and typically having a white-and-black plumage: order Ciconiiformes
2. sometimes capital a variety of domestic fancy pigeon resembling the fairy swallow

Other Words From

• storklike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of stork¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English storc; cognate with German Storch, Old Norse storkr; akin to stark

Word History and Origins

Origin of stork¹

Old English storc; related to Old High German storah, Old Norse storkr, Old English stearc stiff; from the stiff appearance of its legs; see stark

Example Sentences

Meet Charles Vance Millar, whose death was the starting gun for the Stork Derby.

From Ozy

So different were they that Lucy Fisher, another friend, used to tease that "Doug had been brought by the stork."

From The Daily Beast

He looks like a stork that dropped a baby and broke it and is coming to explain to the parents.

From The Daily Beast

We just sing beautiful music, hold hands and voilà, a stork brings the baby from heaven.

From The Daily Beast

I always believed someone was going to leave a baby on my doorstep—like the stork.

From The Daily Beast

But the stork was cruel and would not heed him, and led Cedric a weary chase through the marshes and the brakes.

From Project Gutenberg

Stuckup, great tall stork of a woman, that lords it over a man as though she was a goddess.

From Project Gutenberg

Monson, my old servant, has joined me, looking more like a cross between an owl and a stork than ever!

From Project Gutenberg

Vultures and kites are common enough; and Haji Laqlaq the stork comes in regularly from his pilgrimage to Mecca in the spring.

From Project Gutenberg

When the child's development has gone far enough, it will be well to dispense with the stork story.

From Project Gutenberg