Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various birds of prey of the family Falconidae and especially of the genus Falco, having a short, curved beak and long, pointed, powerful wings adapted for swift flight.
  • noun Any of several birds of these or related species, such as hawks, trained to hunt small game.
  • noun A female bird of this type used in falconry.
  • noun A small cannon in use from the 15th to the 17th century.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A diurnal bird of prey, not a vulture; especially, a hawk used in falconry.
  • noun In ornithology:
  • noun One of the Falconidæ.
  • noun One of the Falconidæ.
  • noun Specifically, a bird of the genus Falco.
  • noun In falconry, a female falcon, as distinguished from the male, which is about a third smaller, and is known as a tercel, tiercel, or tiercelet. See haggard.
  • noun A kind of cannon in use in the sixteenth century.
  • noun Same as femoral falcon.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One of a family (Falconidæ) of raptorial birds, characterized by a short, hooked beak, strong claws, and powerful flight.
  • noun Any species of the genus Falco, distinguished by having a toothlike lobe on the upper mandible; especially, one of this genus trained to the pursuit of other birds, or game.
  • noun (Gun.) An ancient form of cannon.
  • noun (Zoöl.) See under Chanting.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any bird of the genus Falco, all of which are birds of prey.
  • verb To hunt with a falcon or falcons.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb hunt with falcons
  • noun diurnal birds of prey having long pointed powerful wings adapted for swift flight

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French faucon, falcun, from Late Latin falcō, falcōn-; see pel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English falcon, faulcon, from Anglo-Norman falcon, falcun, from Late Latin falcō ("falcon"), of Germanic origin, probably via Old Frankish *falko (“falcon, hawk”), from Proto-Germanic *falkô (“falcon”), from from Proto-Indo-European *pol̑- (“pale”), from *pel- (“fallow”).

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word falcon.

Examples

  • But Syfka, an ancient falcon, is claiming that one of her people is hidden in the avian and serpiente land.

    WEEKLY BOOK RELEASES FOR JANUARY 10TH | Open Society Book Club Discussions and Reviews 2010

  • Though I feel guilty for the torture its giving you, the maltese falcon is making me starved for a story that doesn't exist yet.

    A Mad Dash to Mechanical Emus greygirlbeast 2010

  • Half drunk, they call their falcon and wander far off to hunt.

    Archive 2006-02-01 2006

  • Half drunk, they call their falcon and wander far off to hunt.

    Hunting Song 2006

  • Indus” questioned the fact, known to so many travellers, that the falcon is also killed by this “tiger of the air,” despite the latter’s feeble bill (pp. 35 – 38).

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • Sokol means "falcon" -- no doubt the original badge favoured by Slavonic societies.

    From a Terrace in Prague Lieut.-Col. B. Granville Baker

  • Meh, maybe when it was called the falcon back in Perfect dark (scoped falcon = = halo 2 pistol) Baby mario, Yoshis island, and all the wario games/mario sports titles i view as the true sellout ponts for mario.

    EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Top ten sellout moments for Mario 2005

  • Before I quit, the monikers "modern" and "primitive" falconry may need a bit more explaining: Steve flies a domestic-bred, hybrid falcon, which is hardly primitive.

    On Falconry 2005

  • A falcon was our houseguest convalescing after a nasty encounter with the high-tension electrical wires.

    Interactive Dig Hierakonpolis - Welcome 2002

  • They were both silent for a long while, Nefer containing himself, although his disappointment at the loss of the falcon was a torment as intense as if he had thrust his hand into flames.

    Warlock Smith, Wilbur 2001

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "an ancient name given to a 3 pounder a size/type of cannon." (citation in Historical Military Terms list description)

    See also falconet.

    October 9, 2008

  • See hawk.

    March 3, 2011