Albatross

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈæl.bəˌtrÉ’s/
• US IPA: /ˈæl.bəˌtrÉ”s/

Origin

An alteration of Portuguese word alcatraz ("gannet"), under influence of the Latin word albus ("white"); alcatraz comes from Arabic القطرس (al-qaṭrās', "sea eagle").

• The "long-term impediment" sense is derived from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, from the seabird.

Full definition of albatross

Noun

1. Any of various large seabirds of the family Diomedeidae ranging widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific and having a hooked beak and long narrow wings.
2. (golf) A double eagle, or three under par on any one hole.
3. (idiomatic) A long-term impediment, burden, or curse.
• 2006 March 13, Richard Lugar, speech to the Brookings Institution,... energy is the albatross of U.S. national security.

Synonyms

• (seabird) gooney bird, gooney, goonie