Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Loon |
LoonNoun1. A worthless lazy fellow. 2. Large somewhat primitive fish-eating diving bird of the northern hemisphere having webbed feet placed far back; related to the grebes. 3. A person with confused ideas; incapable of serious thought. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "loon" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1606. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Slang in 1811 | LOON, or LOUT. A country bumkin, or clown. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Great Northern Diver/Common Loon Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Gaviiformes Family: Gaviidae Genus: Gavia Species: immer Binomial name Gavia immer The Great Northern Diver, known in North America as the Common Loon (Gavia immer †), is a large member of the loon or diver family (28" to 36"), although it is slightly smaller than the similar White-billed Diver.
It breeds in Canada, Greenland, and Alaska. There is a smaller population in Iceland.
It winters at sea or on large lakes over a much wider range.
Distinguishing identifiers: The only diver with head all black and a white necklace; black bill distinguishes it from the White-billed Diver.
Breeding adults have a black head, white underparts, and a chequered black-and-white mantle. Non-breeding plumage is drabber, with the chin and foreneck white. Its bill is grey or whitish and held horizontally.
It flies with its neck outstretched.
This species, like all divers, is a specialist fish-eater, catching its prey underwater, as deep as 200 feet. Fresh water diets consist of pike, perch, sunfish, trout and bass; salt water diets consist of rock cod, flounders, sea trout and herring.
The tremolo call, sometimes referred to as loon laughter, is an eerie wailing, a symbol of the Canadian wilderness, and often used as atmosphere in horror films.
It is the national bird of Canada, appearing on the "loonie, and is also the provincial bird of Ontario and the state bird of Minnesota. Native tribes of British Columbia believed that an excess of calls from this bird predicted rain, and even brought it.
Folk names include: big loon, black-billed loon, call-up-a-storm, ember-goose, greenhead, guinea duck, imber diver, ring-necked loon, walloon.
head of a Great Northern Diver† Gavia: Latin for sea smew (although Divers are not Smew); immer: either (1) related to Swedish immer and emmer, the gray or blackened ashes of a fire, referring to its dark plumage; or (2) Latin immergo, to immerse, and immersus, submerged.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Great Northern Diver."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Divers
Great Northern DiverScientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Gaviiformes Family: Gaviidae
Genus Gavia The loon or diver is a type of aquatic bird found in many parts of North America and northern Europe. A loon is the size of a large duck, to which it is unrelated; its plumage is largely grey or black, and it has a spear-shaped bill. The loons compose a genus, family, and order all their own.
These were previously considered the most ancient of the northern hemisphere bird families, but it has recently become clear that the Anseriformes (ducks, geese and swans) and the Galliformes (the pheasants and their allies) are older groups.
The European name diver comes from the bird's habit of catching fish by swimming calmly along the surface and then abruptly plunging into the water; the North American name loon comes from the bird's haunting, yodeling cry, a symbol of the Canadian wilds.
Loons swim well, and fly adequately, but are almost hopeless on land, and have difficulty taking off, becoming airborne only after skimming the surface of the water for a couple of hundred meters.
Loons breed on inland freshwater lakes and ponds, but move to the coasts in winter, and often move much further south.
There are five species of loon:
The Pacific Loon is often considered to be a subspecies of the Atlantic Black-throated Diver.
- Order Gaviiformes
- Family Gaviidae
- Great Northern Diver or Common Loon, Gavia immer .
- White-billed Diver or Yellow-billed Loon, Gavia adamsii .
- Black-throated Diver or Arctic Loon, Gavia arctica .
- Red-throated Diver or Red-throated Loon, Gavia stellata.
- Pacific Diver or Pacific Loon, Gavia pacifica .
The Common Loon is the national bird of Canada and is depicted on the Canadian one-dollar coin, which is therefore nicknamed the loonie.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Loon."
Synonyms: LoonSynonyms: addle-head (n), birdbrain (n), diver (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Bad Man | Blackguard, polisson, loafer, sneak; rapscallion, rascallion; cullion, mean wretch, varlet, kern, ame-de-boue, drole; cur, dog, hound, whelp, mongrel; lown, loon, runnion, outcast, vagabond; rogue; (knave); ronian; scum of the earth, riffraff; Arcades ambo. |
Commonalty | Peasant, countryman, boor, carle, churl; villain, villein; terrae filius; serf, kern, tyke, tike, chuff, ryot, fellah; longshoreman; swain, clown, hind; clod, clodhopper; hobnail, yokel, bog-trotter, bumpkin; plowman, plowboy; rustic, hayseed, lunkhead, chaw-bacon, tiller of the soil; hewers of wood and drawers of water, groundling; gaffer, loon, put, cub, Tony Lumpkin, looby, rube, lout, underling; gamin; rough; pot-wallopper, slubberdegullion; vulgar fellow, low fellow; cad, curmudgeon. |
Fool | Oaf, lout, loon, lown, dullard, doodle, calf, colt, buzzard, block, put, stick, stock, numps, tony. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Loon |
| English words defined with "loon": Ember-goose ♦ family Gavidae ♦ Gavidae ♦ Imber-goose ♦ Northern diver ♦ Rain goose. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "loon": LOUT. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "loon": Lown. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Loon" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. Dutch (compensation, reward, salary, wage, wages). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Emily Dickinson lived alone, and she wrote some of the most beautiful poetry the world has ever known then went crazy as a loon. (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) Hey-a, Loon girl any guess as what today's mystery meal is (Tiny Toon Adventures; writing credit: Charles Adler; Pat Allee) Crazy as a loon! You really expect me to believe that you're sane and the rest of the world is mad (The Haunting; writing credit: Shirley Jackson; Nelson Gidding) | |
Song Titles | I Need A Girl (Part One) (performing artist: P. Diddy featuring Usher & Loon) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Leveling along the Loon River Level party of J. D. Thurmond. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Loon in the Boundary Waters of the Superior National Forest, MN. Credit: USDA. |
 | Loon Lake beach. Credit: J. Brende. |  | Using floating matresses at Loon Lake. Credit: J. Brende. |
 | Common Loon. Credit: Bob Hines. |  | Hendrik Willem Van Loon, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front] / Bachrach. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Lower Loon Lake, Adirondack Mountains. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Upper Loon Lake, Adirondack Mountains. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Loon Lake House from the lake, Adirondack Mountains. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Loon Lake and Chase's Hotel, Adirondack Mts., N.Y. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
 | Loon call. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | The loon retires to solitary ponds to spend it. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Loon" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 78.79% of the time. "Loon" is used about 33 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 78.79% | 26 | 68,323 |
| Noun (proper) | 21.21% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Total | 100.00% | 33 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "loon": Loon Lake ♦ sprat loon. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
loon | 1,563 | area loon mountain nh ski | 20 |
loon lake | 203 | campground lake loon | 20 |
loon lyrics | 134 | lkae loon own | 19 |
loon mountain | 125 | ca lake loon | 18 |
bad boy loon | 87 | loon call | 18 |
common loon | 82 | village of loon mountain | 18 |
loon lyrics that want | 71 | diddy loon p | 18 |
loon rapper | 69 | minimum loon | 17 |
loon picture | 65 | cam loon web | 15 |
loon lake wa | 50 | loon mountain resort | 15 |
loon that want | 46 | bad boy loon record | 15 |
cam loon | 39 | lake loon ny | 14 |
lake loon oregon | 35 | bird loon | 14 |
loon sound | 32 | 160t loon | 14 |
loon villagesoup.com | 32 | lake loon resort | 14 |
california lake loon | 32 | kayak loon | 14 |
cabin cove escape hope loon maine maine midcoast | 22 | loon pic | 13 |
loon lake lodge | 22 | loon lake new york | 13 |
loon lake washington | 20 | loon jewelry | 13 |
mountain club on loon | 20 | bc lake loon | 13 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "loon"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | leshko (coot, dodo, dupe, gander, goon, goose, greener, greenhorn, gudgeon, gullibility, gullible, innocent, lummox, mooncalf, muggins, mutt, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, noddy, noodle, numskull, sap, sap-head, Sawney, simp, simpleton, tom-noddy), i krisur (balmy, bonkers, cracked, crackers, cuckoo, Daffy, dare devil, daring, desperate, devil may care, flaky, hard on, loony, madcap, nut, nuts, pixilated, potty, screwball, wacky), djalë (boy, chap, child, egg, fella, fellow, Jack, Johnny, lad, man child, son, Walla, youngster), budalla (anserine, anserous, asinine, ass, blunderhead, booby, brainless, cabbage-head, chuckle-head, clod, cloddish, clod-poll, cockeyed, daft, dense, Dick, dim witted, dimwit, dumb, dumbbell, fathead, fool, gaby, gaga, goof, goofy, goon, Goosey, gowk, half wit, idiot, idle-headed, imbecile, jobbernowl, jolterhead, josser, juggins, mindless, moke, muff, mutton head, mutton-headed, nerd, nincompoop, ninny, ninny-hammer, nitwit, noddy, noodle, numskull, nut, owl, pin head, pumpkin-head, sheep's head, silly, slow witted, softhead, soft-headed, softy, spoony, stupid, tomfool, tom-noddy, witless). (various references) | |
Arabic | عقاب بحري, خسيس (abject, base, contemptible, dastardly, despicable, ignoble, lousy, low, lowly, mean, paltry, pooch, reptile, ruffian, scruffy, servile, shabby, shoddy, sleazy, small change, sordid, vile, villainous), الوغد (blackguard, kite, knave, rapscallion, rascal, rogue, scamp, scapegrace, scoundrel, villain), الساذج (dupe, gaby, goose, gull, lamb, mutt, nincompoop, ninny, pigeon, simpleton, villain, zany), دنئ (currish, low down, mean, obsequious, rank, scurvy, seamy, servile, sleazy, stinking). (various references) | |
Blackfoot | matsí'sai'piyi. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | смахнат човек (nut, screwball, wittol, zany), хлапак (punk, shaver, spalpeen, urchin, yob, youngling), тъпак (ass, blockhead, blunderhead, dimwit, dolt, dope, dumbbell, dunce, dunderhead, fool, jolterhead, leather-head, loggerhead, lug, lummox, lunkhead, sheep's head, thick, tomnoddy, witling, yo-yo), гмуркач (loom), момче (boy, bud, chap, chappy, fellow, gossoon, guy, kid, knave, lad, laddie, man child, son of adam, urchin), луд човек (madman), безделник (black sheep, bum, cornerman, dangler, dead beat, deadbeat, do nothing, fiddler, fribble, gadabout, good for nothing, hobo, lay about, loafer, loiterer, lounger, spalpeen, spiv, tramp, twiddler, vagabond, wastrel), дървеняк (ape, ape-man, bumpkin, lubber, lubber-head, lug, lummox, numskull, pudding-head, zombie). (various references) | |
Czech | cvok (hobnail, nutcase, pin, stud). (various references) | |
Danish | sortstrubet lom (black-throated diver, Usa:pacific loon), roedstrubet lom (red-throated diver, Usa:red-throated loon), islom (great northern diver, Usa:common loon), hvidnaebbet lom (Usa:yellow-billed loon, white-billed diver). (various references) | |
Dutch | witsnavelduiker (Usa:yellow-billed loon, white-billed diver), roodkeelduiker (red-throated diver, Usa:red-throated loon), parelduiker (black-throated diver, Usa:pacific loon), ijsduiker (great northern diver, Usa:common loon), geelsnavelduiker (Usa:yellow-billed loon, white-billed diver). (various references) | |
Finnish | kuikka (arctic loon, black-throated diver). (various references) | |
French | vaurien, plongeon, imbécile (lob), idiot, dingue. (various references) | |
German | seetaucher (grebe), blödmann (buffoon, faggot, muggins, nit, stupid fool, wretch). (various references) | |
Greek | κιτρινομύτικο παγοβούτι (white billed diver), κηλιδοβούτη (red-throated diver, Usa:red-throated loon), παγοβούτι (great northern diver), λαμπροβούτι (black throated diver). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מטורף (crazy, lunatic, mad, nutty, possessed). (various references) | |
Hungarian | senkiházi (nit, nobody, turd, upstart, waster, wastrel), jeges búvár, fajankó (boob, booby, bumpkin, cad, duffer, dummy, dunce, goof, goofy, goose, hawbuck, hick, juggins, lob, lout, lummox, lunkhead, numb-skull, numskull, oaf, pumpkin-head, simple sammy), búvármadár (dipper, ember goose). (various references) | |
Indonesian | pemalas (idler, sluggard). (various references) | |
Inuktitut | tuullik. (various references) | |
Italian | sciocco (addled, booby, daffy, daft, doltish, featherbrain, fool, foolish, goofy, Gotham, inane, Looby, ludicrous, nincompoop, nitwit, noodle, sap, silly, simper, soppy, spoony, stupid), gavia. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 阿" (red-throated loon). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | あび (red-throated loon). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | oonlay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | velhaco (arrant knave, caitiff, deceiver, knavish, machiavellian, rip, rogue, roguish, slyboots, wheeler-dealer), vadio (apache, bohemian, bummer, cadger, gadder, highbinder, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, landloper, landlouper, lazy, loafer, lounger, peddlar, ranger, rowdy, ruffian, runabout, scourer, slothful, sluggard, stroller, vagabond, vagrant, woodward), tratante (kite, knave, knavish, ne'er-do-well, picaroon, rascal, rogue, roguish, scamp, scapegrace, sinner, sirrah, spalpeen, vagabond, wheeler-dealer), mergulhão (auk, dipper, diver, goosander, merganser). (various references) | |
Romanian | cufundar (diver), bodârlãu. (various references) | |
Russian | гагара. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | vrsta gnjurca, klipan (bumpkin, clod, hobbledehoy), glupan (blockhead, bonehead, boob, booby, clod-poll, coot, dimwit, dope, driveler, driveller, dunce, dunderhead, fathead, fat-head, gander, goof, jerk, lout, lug, lummox, lunkhead, mutton head, nerd, nincompoop, ninny, ninny-hammer, nitwit, noddy, pin head, pinhead, pumpkin-head, thickhead, tomfool, twit). (various references) | |
Spanish | somorgujo (loom), patán (backwoodsman, boor, bumpkin, churl, clod, clodhopper, clown, country bumpkin, duffer, lout, mucker, oaf, rube, yokel), chiflado (barmy, cracked, crackpot, crazy, daft, freak, loony, Loopy, mad, madly, nut, nutter, off his head, off one's nut, screwy, touched, trolley, wacky). (various references) | |
Swedish | lom, storlom, slyngel (jackanapes, oaf, scamp, scoundrel), odåga (deadbeat, god-for-nothing, ne'er do well, ne'er-do-well, varmint, waster, wastrel), galning (loony, lunatic, madman, madwoman, maniac, screwball, tomfool), dumbom (bonehead, dunce, fool, gaby, goof, goon, idiot, innocent, jobbernowl, jolterhead, lack-brain, Looby, ninny, ninny-hammer, nitwit, poop, pumpkin-head, sap, silly, simp, simple simon, simpleton, stupid, zany). (various references) | |
Thai | คนโง่ (apeth, berk, birdbrain, bozo, chucklehead, chump, clod, clodpole, div, doughnut, dove, dummy, dunce, featherbrain, fool, half-wit, ignoramus, muddlehead, mug, muggins, muppet, mut, nerd, nincompoop, nit, noddy, oaf, schlepp, silly, simp, simple, simpleton, thicko). (various references) | |
Turkish | tembel (asleep, bonelazy, do nothing, do-little, drone, gold brick, idle, idle fellow, Idler, inactive, indolent, inert, laggard, languid, languorous, lazy, lazy person, lazybones, lounger, slack, slacker, slothful, slouch, slug, sluggard, sluggish, stagnant, tired, torpid, workshy), işe yaramaz kimse (basket case, lemon, never-do-well, noneffective, non-effective, wastrel), dalgıçkuşu (diver, grebe), dalgıç kuşu, ahmak (addled, ass, blockhead, boob, bumpkin, cabbagehead, chucklehead, chumpish, clot, country bumpkin, crass, cretin, deadly dull, dimwitted, dolt, doltish, dreary, dullish, dumb bell, dunderhead, dunderheaded, fathead, fool, foolish, gander, gawk, gawky, goat, goof, goose, greenhorn, Gubbins, half wit, half-witted, hayseed, idiot, jackass, jerk, josser, kookaburra, light in the head, lummox, lump, muggins, mutt, mutton head, noddy, numskull, prune, pudding-head, sap, saphead, sappy, schlepper, simp, soft, stupid, twerp). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | гагара (diver), нероба (bauchle, dangler, dawdler, dead beat, do nothing, do-naught, fribble, good for nothing, layabout, loafer, loiterer, ne'er do well, rambler, scamp, shack, skulk, spalpeen, waster), парубок (batch, boy, boy friend, fellow, zazoo). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | thằng cu"ng, đ" xỏ lá ba que, đ" đểu giả. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Colymbus arcticus, Colymbus immer, Gavia adamsii, Gavia arctica, Gavia immer, Gavia stellata, olymbus stellatus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "loon": looney, looneys, loonier, loonies, looniest, looniness, looninesses, loons, loony. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "loon": balloon, doubloon, galloon, pantaloon, saloon, shalloon. (additional references) | |
Words containing "loon": ballooned, ballooning, balloonings, balloonist, balloonists, balloons, doubloons, galloons, pantaloons, saloons, shalloons. (additional references) | |
| |
"Loon" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: aloon, aoon, dlon, floon, Glocon, gloon, klon, labon, laon, laun, Laxon, layon, levon, Lhooq, liocn, liono, lodon, Loen, loind, Lojo, Lokono, Loloni, lon, lonc, Lono, lonz, loo, loob, loof, Looh, loona, loone, loor, Looy, looz, Lopon, losn, louan, Louen, louh, loun, lound, lourn, lown, loxo, Loxod, lun, luno, luon, luonn, Luxon, lyonn, oleon, olion, oln, oon, plooin, ploonk. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "loon" (pronounced luw"n) |
| 3 | l uw" n | balloon, galloon, saloon. |
| 2 | -uw" n | festoon, afternoon, attune, baboon, bassoon, boon, buffoon, cardoon, cartoon, cocoon, contrabassoon, coon, croon, dune, goon, harpoon, hewn, immune, impugn, inopportune, kroon, lagoon, lampoon, maroon, monsoon, moon, noon, opportune, picayune, platoon, pontoon, poon, prune, raccoon, soon, spoon, strewn, swoon, Toon, tune, tycoon, typhoon. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: nolo. | |
| Words within the letters "l-n-o-o" | |
-1 letter: loo, noo. | |
-2 letters: lo, no, on. | |
| Words containing the letters "l-n-o-o" | |
+1 letter: colon, loons, loony, nolos, snool, solon. | |
+2 letters: bolson, colone, coloni, colons, colony, consol, doblon, lagoon, logion, looing, looney, loosen, lotion, mongol, noodle, oblong, oolong, saloon, snools, solano, solion, solons, stolon, uncool, woolen, zoonal. | |
+3 letters: balloon, blouson, bologna, boloney, bolsons, borneol, cologne, colonel, colones, colonic, colonus, condole, console, consols, control, coolant, cooling, coronal, coronel, doblons, dongola, eidolon, enology, fooling, forlorn, galloon, glonoin, gondola, kiloton, lagoons, lampoon, lardoon, locoing, logions, longbow, looking, looming, looneys, loonier, loonies, looping, loosens, loosing, looting, lorgnon, lotions, lowborn, lowdown, mongols, monocle, monofil, monolog, moonily, moonlet, moonlit, mouflon, neology, noncola, nonoily, noodled, noodles, oblongs, octanol, oenomel, oinomel, onefold, oodlins, oolongs, orcinol, ortolan, platoon, plosion, polaron, polygon, pooling, prolong, rosinol, saloons, snooled, snoozle, solanos, solions, soliton, soloing, stolons, tooling, unloose, vanpool, violone, volcano, woolens, woollen, woolman, woolmen. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
