DCHP-1

harp (seal)

n. a large grey seal, Phoca groenlandica, so called because of the harp-shaped markings on its back.
See also: ragged jacket turning harp voyage seal
- 1771 (1792) I had the fat of two harps melted, which produced eighteen gallon of oil.
- 1819 Five kinds of seals frequent these shores, namely, the common, the great, the rough, the hooded, the harp, and an obscure species, called by the Laplanders, fatuc vindac, with a round and a long snout bending like the proboscis of an elephant.
- 1901 The Harps are mild, civilized and gregarious.
- 1965 Off the north-east coast of Canada lives one of the most appealing of animals, the Harp seal.