al‧ba‧tross /ˈælbətrɒs $ -trɒːs, -trɑːs/
noun[
Date: 1600-1700;
Origin: Probably from alcatras type of water bird (16-19 centuries), from Portuguese or Spanish alcatraz 'pelican', from Arabic al-gattas 'the diver'; ]
[
Sense 2: Origin: from the dead albatross that brought bad luck to the sailor who killed it in the poem The Ancient Mariner (1798) by S. T. Coleridge]
1. [countable] a very large white sea bird
2. an albatross (around your neck) something that causes problems for you and prevents you from succeeding:
The issue has become a political albatross for the government. [TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲