courier n also currier. Cp OED ~ 1 'a running messenger.' Hooded seal on the periphery of a seal herd; hooded seal in its third year. Also attrib courier hood.
   1924 ENGLAND 3 Sure enough, there they were, six or seven huge, fat fellows resting on pans, off our port bow. The Captain called them 'currier hoods,' or scattered outscouts of the hood nation, and added that it was most unusual to find seals in this latitude. Ibid 103 The hoods, for their first four years, are 'young hoods,' 'bedlamers,' 'curriers' and 'old hoods.' 1925 Dial Notes v, 329 Courier hoods. Scattering guards outside the harp seals.

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