See Also: Puffin(medicine)
puffin(dictionary)
puffin(encyclopedia)
puffin(dictionary)

puffin (iou)



puffin noun. ME.
[App. from PUFF verb + -ING3, with ref. to the fat nestlings of the Manx shearwater: earlier as Anglo-Latin puffo(nus), poffo, paphinus. The modern sense arose by confusion.]
Orig., the Manx shearwater, Puffinus puffinus. Now, any of various auks of the genera Fratercula and Lunda, noted for their very deep and brightly coloured bills, esp. F. arctica, the Atlantic puffin. ME.
[from p(edestrian) u(ser) f(riendly) in(telligent), alt. by analogy with pelican crossing.] More fully puffin crossing. In Britain, a pedestrian crossing with traffic lights which go green again only when no more pedestrians are detected on the crossing by infrared detectors and mats. L20.
puffinry noun (a place occupied by) a breeding colony of puffins M20.