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Webster 1913 Edition


Gyrfalcon

Gyr′falˊcon

(jẽr′fa̤ˊk’n)
,
Noun.
[OE.
gerfaucon
, OF.
gerfaucon
, LL.
gyrofalco
, perh. fr. L.
gyrus
circle +
falco
falcon, and named from its circling flight; or cf. E.
gier
-eagle. See
Gyre
,
Noun.
,
Falcon
.]
(Zool.)
One of several species and varieties of large Arctic falcons, esp.
Falco rusticolus
and the white species
Falco Islandicus
, both of which are circumpolar. The black and the gray are varieties of the former. See Illust. of
Accipiter
.
[Written also
gerfalcon
,
gierfalcon
, and
jerfalcon
.]

Webster 1828 Edition


Gyrfalcon

GYR'FALCON

,
Noun.
[L. hierofalco, from Gr. sacred, and falco, and so named from the veneration of the Egyptians for hawks.
A species of Falco, or hawk.

Definition 2024


gyrfalcon

gyrfalcon

English

a gyrfalcon

Wikispecies

Alternative forms

Noun

gyrfalcon (plural gyrfalcons)

  1. (obsolete) Any large falcon, especially as used to fly at herons.
  2. Falco rusticolus, a large bird of prey that breeds on Arctic coasts and islands of North America, Europe and Asia.
    • 2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre 2008, p. 132:
      [...] the usurper Buljan ordered that his sukkah be erected on the donjon's roof, with its [...] relative nearness to the stars, among which his sky-worshiping and uncircumcised ancestors still hunted with infallible gyrfalcons for celestial game.

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