Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
whabby en · NOUN
Meanings
(Canada, Newfoundland, US, especially, regional) The red-throated diver.
The most remarkable of the sea-birds which frequent these coasts are the lord and lady, of the teal kind; the hounds, rather larger than the teal, which migrate to the north in the spring in large flocks, and as they fly, make a continual noise resembling that of a pack of beagles when in chase; the saddle-back, called also blackback, the largest species of gulls; the tinker, or razor-bill; the loon and whabby, both of the diving genus; and the bull, a smaller bird, also called ice-bird. 1819, Lewis Amadeus Anspach, A History of the Island of Newfoundland: Containing a Description of the Island, the Banks, the Fisheries and Trade of Newfoundland and the Coast of Labrador, page 391:
On discovering a whabby swimming in a small pond, […] 1792 [original: 1771], Cartwright, i, 143