brant

¹ American  

[brant] / brænt /

noun

plural

brants,

plural

brant

1. any of several species of small, dark-colored geese of the genus Branta, especially B. bernicla, breeding in high northern latitudes and migrating south in the autumn.

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Brant ² American  

[brant] / brænt /

noun

1. Joseph Thayendanegea, 1742–1807, Mohawk Indian chief who fought on the side of the British in the American Revolution.

2. a male given name.

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brant British  

/ brænt /

noun

1. Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): brent goose.  a small goose, Branta bernicla, that has a dark grey plumage and short neck and occurs in most northern coastal regions

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Etymology

Origin of brant

First recorded in 1535–45; short for brantgoose, brentgoose; akin to Old Norse brandgās, German Brandgans

Example Sentences

The road would traverse a narrow isthmus densely dotted with shallow fresh water ponds that separates lagoons holding the world’s largest eel grass beds vital to emperor geese, brant and eiders.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 30, 2022

As with black brant geese and polar bears, perhaps not enough.

From Scientific American • Feb. 7, 2014

It serves as a migratory stop for 98 percent of the world’s Pacific black brant as the bird makes its way south to Mexico for the winter.

From Washington Post • Mar. 22, 2013

In the second room 25 similarly arranged images from the series “On Any Given Day in Spring” take a quite different tack, capturing wide open beaches dotted with flocks of shorebirds called brant.

From New York Times • Oct. 11, 2012

"Pishnekuh!" cried Pau-Puk-Keewis, "Pishnekuh! my brothers!" said he, 200"Change me to a brant with plumage, With a shining neck and feathers, Make me large, and make me larger, Ten times larger than the others."

From The Song of Hiawatha An Epic Poem by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth