Frigate \Frig"ate\, n. [F. fr['e]gate, It. fregata, prob.
   contracted fr. L. fabricata something constructed or built.
   See Fabricate.]
   1. Originally, a vessel of the Mediterranean propelled by
      sails and by oars. The French, about 1650, transferred the
      name to larger vessels, and by 1750 it had been
      appropriated for a class of war vessels intermediate
      between corvettes and ships of the line. Frigates, from
      about 1750 to 1850, had one full battery deck and, often,
      a spar deck with a lighter battery. They carried sometimes
      as many as fifty guns. After the application of steam to
      navigation steam frigates of largely increased size and
      power were built, and formed the main part of the navies
      of the world till about 1870, when the introduction of
      ironclads superseded them. [Formerly spelled frigat and
      friggot.]
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Any small vessel on the water. [Obs.] --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

   Frigate bird (Zool.), a web-footed rapacious bird, of the
      genus Fregata; -- called also man-of-war bird, and
      frigate pelican. Two species are known; that of the
      Southern United States and West Indies is F. aquila.
      They are remarkable for their long wings and powerful
      flight. Their food consists of fish which they obtain by
      robbing gulls, terns, and other birds, of their prey. They
      are related to the pelicans.

   Frigate mackerel (Zool.), an oceanic fish (Auxis Rochei)
      of little or no value as food, often very abundant off the
      coast of the United States.

   Frigate pelican. (Zool.) Same as Frigate bird.
      [1913 Webster]

Pelican \Pel"i*can\ (p[e^]l"[i^]*kan), n. [F. p['e]lican, L.
   pelicanus, pelecanus, Gr. peleka`n, peleka^s, pele`kanos, the
   woodpecker, and also a water bird of the pelican kind, fr.
   peleka^n to hew with an ax, fr. pe`lekys an ax, akin to Skr.
   para[,c]u.] [Written also pelecan.]
   1. (Zool.) Any large webfooted bird of the genus Pelecanus,
      of which about a dozen species are known. They have an
      enormous bill, to the lower edge of which is attached a
      pouch in which captured fishes are temporarily stored.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: The American white pelican (Pelecanus
         erythrorhynchos) and the brown species (Pelecanus
         fuscus) are abundant on the Florida coast in winter,
         but breed about the lakes in the Rocky Mountains and
         British America.
         [1913 Webster]

   2. (Old Chem.) A retort or still having a curved tube or
      tubes leading back from the head to the body for
      continuous condensation and redistillation.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: The principle is still employed in certain modern forms
         of distilling apparatus.
         [1913 Webster]

   Frigate pelican (Zool.), the frigate bird. See under
      Frigate.

   Pelican fish (Zool.), deep-sea fish (Eurypharynx
      pelecanoides) of the order Lyomeri, remarkable for the
      enormous development of the jaws, which support a large
      gular pouch.

   Pelican flower (Bot.), the very large and curiously shaped
      blossom of a climbing plant (Aristolochia grandiflora)
      of the West Indies; also, the plant itself.

   Pelican ibis (Zool.), a large Asiatic wood ibis (Tantalus
      leucocephalus). The head and throat are destitute of
      feathers; the plumage is white, with the quills and the
      tail greenish black.

   Pelican in her piety (in heraldry and symbolical art), a
      representation of a pelican in the act of wounding her
      breast in order to nourish her young with her blood; -- a
      practice fabulously attributed to the bird, on account of
      which it was adopted as a symbol of the Redeemer, and of
      charity.

   Pelican's foot (Zool.), a marine gastropod shell of the
      genus Aporrhais, esp. Aporrhais pes-pelicani of
      Europe.
      [1913 Webster]