flipperling

English

Etymology

From flipper +‎ -ling.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈflɪpəlɪŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈflɪpɚlɪŋ/

Noun

flipperling (plural flipperlings)

1. (rare, literary) A young seal.
   • 1893 August, Rudyard Kipling, "Seal Lullaby", in "The White Seal", National Review.

     Where billow meets billow, there soft be thy pillow; / Ah, weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!

   • 1921, The Literary Digest, volume 71, page 20:

     There the flipperlings—young seals—are born, and from there, as the ice begins to break up with the spring, they and their parents come floating southwards on huge blocks of ice.

   • 1936, Latrobe Carroll, The Canadian Magazine:

     At last an unwary cod, in flight from the big male, sped close beside the flipperling.