albatross
noun/ˈælbətrɒs/
/ˈælbətrɑːs/
- a very large white bird with long wings that lives in the Pacific and Southern OceansTopics Birdsc2
- [usually singular] (formal) a thing that causes problems or prevents you from doing something
- The national debt is an albatross around the president’s neck.
Word Originlate 17th cent.: alteration (influenced by Latin albus ‘white’) of 16th-cent. alcatras, applied to various seabirds including the frigate bird and pelican, from Spanish and Portuguese alcatraz, from Arabic al-ġaṭṭās ‘the diver’.
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albatross