Definition of penguins Penguins

/pɛˈŋgwʌnz/ - [penggwunz] -

We found 3 definitions of penguins from 2 different sources.

What does penguins mean?

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Noun Plural: penguins
penguin - short-legged flightless birds of cold southern especially Antarctic regions having webbed feet and wings modified as flippers
		sphenisciform seabird flightless cold-water seabirds: penguins
		family spheniscidae, spheniscidae comprising all existing penguins
		adelie, adelie penguin, pygoscelis adeliae medium-sized penguins occurring in large colonies on the Adelie Coast of Antarctica
		aptenodytes patagonica, king penguin large penguin on islands bordering the Antarctic Circle
		aptenodytes forsteri, emperor penguin the largest penguin; an Antarctic penguin
		jackass penguin, spheniscus demersus small penguin of South America and southern Africa with a braying call

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penguin (Noun)
Any of several flightless sea bird s, of order Sphenisciformes, found in the Southern Hemisphere ; marked by their usual upright stance, walking on short legs, and generally their stark black and white plumage.
penguin (Noun)
A nun because of the black and white habit.
penguin (Noun)
A type of catch where the palm of the hand is facing towards the leg with the arm stretched downward, resembling the flipper of a penguin.
penguin (Noun)
A spiny bromeliad with egg-shaped fleshy fruit.

penguin (n.)
Any bird of the order Impennes, or Ptilopteri. They are covered with short, thick feathers, almost scalelike on the wings, which are without true quills. They are unable to fly, but use their wings to aid in diving, in which they are very expert. See King penguin, under Jackass.
penguin (n.)
The egg-shaped fleshy fruit of a West Indian plant (Bromelia Pinguin) of the Pineapple family; also, the plant itself, which has rigid, pointed, and spiny-toothed leaves, and is used for hedges.

penguin
An aquatic, flightless bird living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere.

penguin
pen′gwin, n. an aquatic bird in the southern hemisphere, unable to fly, but very expert in diving—also Pin′guin.—n. Pen′guinery, a breeding-place of penguins. [Ety. dub.; a corr. of pen-wing, or from W. pen, head, gwen, white.]

penguin
A web-footed bird, of the genus Aptenodytes, unable to fly on account of the small size of its wings, but with great powers of swimming and diving: generally met with in high southern latitudes.

Penguins are sea-birds. They form the family "Spheniscidae", the only family of the order "Sphenisciformes".

Penguins live on the southern half of the world: Antarctica, New Zealand, southern Australia, South Africa and South America.

All Penguins have a white underside and a dark (mostly black) upperside. Penguins cannot fly, but they can swim very well. They have good hearing and can see well underwater. The white and black colors are for camouflage (to help them hide) when they swim: a predator looking from underwater sees the white underside of the penguin, which not seen well with the light coming from above; from above the penguin's black upperside can not be seen well in the dark water.

Most penguins eat krill, fish, squid, and other small animals from the ocean, which they catch while swimming underwater.

Taxonomy.

There are 16-19 living species (types) of penguins. The White-flippered Penguin is today generally considered a subspecies of the Little Penguin. It is still unclear if the Royal Penguin is a subspecies of the Macaroni Penguin. It is also possible that northern and southern Rockhopper Penguins are separate species.
comics
The Penguin is an enemy of Batman in DC Comics.He is played by Burgess Meredith in and by Danny DeVito in Batman Returns. He might by played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Batman 3.