Real Dictionary

albatross
countable noun: An albatross is a very large white seabird.
countable noun: If you describe something or someone as an albatross around your neck, you mean that they cause you great problems from which you cannot escape, or they prevent you from doing what you want to do.

albatross in American English
any of a family (Diomedeidae) of large, web-footed tubenose birds found chiefly in the South Seas: they have long, narrow wings and a long, hooked beak
noun: any of several large, web-footed sea birds of the family Diomedeidae that have the ability to remain aloft for long periods

albatross in British English
noun: any large oceanic bird of the genera Diomedea and Phoebetria, family Diomedeidae, of cool southern oceans: order Procellariiformes (petrels). They have long narrow wings and are noted for a powerful gliding flight