Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PEL'I-CAN, n. [Low L. pelecanus; Gr. πελεκαν; Fr. pelican.]

1. A palmiped fowl of the genus Pelecanus. It is larger than the swan, and remarkable for its enormous bill, to the lower edges of the under chop of which is attached a pouch or bag, capable of being distended so as to hold many quarts of water. In this bag the fowl deposits the fish it takes for food. – Encyc.
2. A chimical glass vessel or alembic with a tubulated capital, from which two opposite and crooked beaks pass out and enter again at the belly of the cucurbit. It is designed for continued distillation and cohobation; the volatile parts of the substance distilling, rising into the capital and returning through the beaks into the cucurbit. – Nicholson.