Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A large black, gray, or white falcon (Falco rusticolus) that breeds in Arctic and subarctic regions and sometimes migrates to northern North America and Eurasia. It is highly valued in falconry.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun See
gerfalcon .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) One of several species and varieties of large Arctic falcons, esp.
Falco rusticolus and the white speciesFalco Islandicus , both of which are circumpolar. The black and the gray are varieties of the former. SeeIllust. ofaccipiter .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete Any large
falcon , especially as used to fly atherons . - noun A large
bird of prey that breeds onArctic coasts and islands ofNorth America ,Europe andAsia .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun large and rare Arctic falcon having white and dark color phases
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The 27th season of "Nature" (PBS, 8 p.m.) begins with the beautiful white species in the Arctic - the wolves and the white falcon known as the gyrfalcon, together on Ellesmere Island.
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The bony fingers that grabbed her wrist this time had all the strength of a gyrfalcon.
Raven Speak Diane Lee Wilson 2010
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The bony fingers that grabbed her wrist this time had all the strength of a gyrfalcon.
Raven Speak Diane Lee Wilson 2010
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The bony fingers that grabbed her wrist this time had all the strength of a gyrfalcon.
Raven Speak Diane Lee Wilson 2010
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At one time, the type of falcon an Englishman was allowed to own marked his rank: a king carried the gyrfalcon; an earl, the peregrine; a yeoman, the goshawk; the priest, the sparrow hawk; and a servant, the kestrel.
Birdology Sy Montgomery 2010
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The bony fingers that grabbed her wrist this time had all the strength of a gyrfalcon.
Raven Speak Diane Lee Wilson 2010
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Last night the two had finally been spotted just before sunset, and the gryphon in question, a gyrfalcon-type with amazing speed, had come rushing back to the Vale as fast as she could with the news.
Elephant in the City 2010
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Cliffs along the Yukon and Porcupine Rivers support several raptor species, including osprey, gyrfalcon, Swainson's hawk, and the endangered American peregrine falcon.
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The gyrfalcon held in its talons the quill of a peacock feather showing a brilliant eye, the blind eye of Chance.
Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009
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I was not supposed to be a gyrfalcon; I was supposed to be a thrush.
Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009
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