albatross (AL-buh-tros) noun, plural albatross or albatrosses

   1. Any of several large, web-footed birds constituting the family
      Diomedeidae, chiefly of the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere, and
      having a hooked beak and long, narrow wings.

   2. A constant, worrisome burden. An obstacle to success.

[Probably alteration (influenced by Latin albus, white), of alcatras,
pelican, from Portuguese, or Spanish alcatraz, from Arabic al-gattas : al,
the + gattas, white-tailed sea eagle. Sense 2, after the albatross in The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which the mariner
killed and had to wear around his neck as a penance.]

   "Getting the albatross that is Temelin off its neck would make the
   utility more attractive to future investors."
   Tony Wesolowsky, Fueling up fast, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,
   Sep/Oct 2000.

  Water, water, every where,
  Nor any drop to drink.

Ever wondered where these well-known lines came from? They are from a work
that is the origin of the figurative use of today's word: The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner, a poem by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first
published in 1798.

In this vivid poem, a mariner and his crew are traveling in a ship near the
South Pole. For no reason, the mariner kills an albatross flying above his
vessel.

   'God save thee, ancient Mariner!
   From the fiends, that plague thee thus!--
   Why look'st thou so?'--'With my cross-bow
   I shot the Albatross.'

His shooting down of the innocent bird brings a curse to the ship, and his
shipmates throw the carcass of the dead bird around his neck, thus giving
a powerful idiom to the English language.

   Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
   Had I from old and young!
   Instead of the cross, the Albatross
   About my neck was hung.

Much happens in the rest of the poem and the whole crew, except the mariner,
dies. As a penance, the wizened mariner wanders, recounting his tale and
wisdom.

   He prayeth best, who loveth best
   All things both great and small;
   For the dear God who loveth us,
   He made and loveth all.

Read the complete text of this evocative poem with accompanying images at:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Rime_Ancient_Mariner.html
During the rest of this week, we will see more animal words that are used
figuratively.                                                        -Anu

............................................................................
The value of marriage is not that adults produce children, but that
children produce adults. -Peter De Vries, editor, novelist (1910-1993) [The
Tunnel of Love, 1954]

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   words and quotes since the beginning of AWAD are available there.

Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/albatross.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/albatross.ram