loon

«loon» in Mova's school dictionary: A large water bird of North America and northern Europe… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a loon, loons)

meaning for a pupil

1) A large water bird of North America and northern Europe with a haunting call, good at diving for fish (called a diver in the UK). tree →

2) (informal) A silly, crazy or strange person. tree →

3) (Scotland, informal) A boy or young man (also spelled «loon» in the north-east). tree →

sense in the lessons

In Canada and the northern USA the loon is a famous bird; it is on the Canadian one-dollar coin, which is called the «loonie». In everyday slang calling someone a «loon» means they are acting crazy, usually in a joking way. Phrases: crazy as a loon, the call of the loon.

examples

• We heard a loon calling across the lake at night. tree →
• The loon dived under the water to catch a fish. tree →
• My uncle is a bit of a loon, but he is very funny. tree →
• Stop acting like a loon! tree →
• The Canadian coin with the loon on it is called a loonie. tree →
• A loon has red eyes and a black-and-white back. tree →
• «You absolute loon,» laughed Gran. tree →

note

Plural: loons. Related: loony or looney (crazy — can hurt people with mental illness, so use kindly), loonie (Canadian dollar). In British English the bird is called a «diver».

In the corpora

• The sergeant speaks in old-fashioned words: «Oddsbodikins! … Rouse thee, old loon» (= Goodness!

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «loon» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.