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Petʹrel

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The stormy petrel. So named, according to tradition, from the Italian Petrello (little Peter), in allusion to St. Peter, who walked on the sea. Our sailors call them “Mother Carey’s chickens.” They are called stormy because in a gale they surround a ship to catch small animals which rise to the surface of the rough sea; when the gale ceases they are no longer seen.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Peter the Hermit (in Tasso)
Peter the Wild Boy
Peterboat
Peterborough (Northamptonshire)
Peterloo
Petit-Maître
Petit Serjeantry
Petitio Principii (A)
Petitioners and Abhorrers
Petrarch
Petrel
Petrified
Petrobrussians or Petrobrusians
Petronel
Petruchio
Petticoat
Petticoat Government
Petticoat and Gown
Petto
Petty Cury (Cambridge)
Peutingerian Map