English

Alternative forms

• tassell gent
• tassell gentle

Noun

tercel gentle ‎(plural tercel gentles or tercels gentle)

1. A male falcon.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:

     Like as a fearefull Dove, which through the raine / Of the wide ayre her way does cut amaine, / Having farre off espyde a Tassell gent, / Which after her his nimble winges doth straine, / Doubleth her hast for feare to bee for-hent [...].

   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, First Folio 1623:

     O for a Falkners voice, / To lure this Tassell gentle backe againe [...].

   • 1820, Walter Scott, The Abbot, I.4:

     Marry, out upon thee, foul kite, that would fain be a tercel gentle.