albatross

noun (plural albatrosses)

• 1a very large oceanic bird related to the shearwaters, with long narrow wings. Albatrosses, some species of which have wingspans greater than 10 feet (3.3 m), are found mainly in the southern oceans, with three kinds in the North Pacific.

  • Genera Diomedea and Phoebetria, family Diomedeidae: several species, including the sooty albatross (P. fusca), Laysan albatross (D. immutablis), and wandering albatross (D. exulans)
• a source of frustration or guilt; an encumbrance (in allusion to Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner):an albatross of a marriage

• 2 Golfanother term for double eagle.