Definition of "widgeon" [widg•eon]

• Either of two wild, freshwater ducks (Anas americana of North America or A. penelope of Europe) having a grayish or brownish back and a white belly and wing coverts. The European widgeon has a reddish-brown head and creamy crown, and the American widgeon has a shiny white crown. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The American widgeon is the constant attendant on the canvass-back duck, so celebrated in the United States for its excellence as an article of food."
• "* Rallus Virginianus, the sorce bird or little brown rail, also called widgeon in Pennsyl."
• "I would agree with a canvasback or a drake widgeon."