Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PEN'GUIN, n. [W. pen, head, and gwyn, white; or L. pinguidine, with fatness.]

1. Aptenodytes, a genus of fowls of the order of Palmipeds. One species of penguin is an aquatic fowl with very short legs, with four toes, three of which are webbed; the boil is clothed with short feathers, set as compactly as the scales of a fish; the wings are small like fins, and covered with short scale-like feathers, so that they are useless it flight. Penguins seldom go on shore, except in the season of breeding, when they burrow like rabbits. On land they stand erect; they are tame and may be driven like a flock of sheep. In water they swim with rapidity, being assisted with their wings. These fowls are found only in the southern latitudes. – Encyc.
2. A species of fruit. – Miller.