Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Subsisting by seizing prey; predatory.
- adjective Adapted for the seizing of prey.
- adjective Of, relating to, or characteristic of birds of prey.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Rapacious; predatory; preying upon animals; of or pertaining to the Raptores or Raptoria.
- Fitted for seizing and holding; prehensile: as, the raptorial beak or claws of birds; the raptorial palps of insects.
- noun A bird of prey; a member of the Raptores.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Rapacious; living upon prey; -- said especially of certain birds.
- adjective Adapted for seizing prey; -- said of the legs, claws, etc., of insects, birds, and other animals.
- adjective Of or pertaining to the Raptores. See
Illust. (f) ofaves .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Like or resembling a
raptor .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective relating to or characteristic of birds of prey
- adjective living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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In other fine raptorial news, the falcons are also back on the Traveler's Tower in Hartford, and they have three eggs.
never make a promise or plan. take a little love where you can. coffeeem 2009
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Klinsmann needs US Soccer to pursue an agenda that develops raptorial talent in the school of young players coming through.
Alan Black: The Shark: Jürgen Klinsmann, New Team USA Soccer Coach Alan Black 2011
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Klinsmann needs US Soccer to pursue an agenda that develops raptorial talent in the school of young players coming through.
Alan Black: The Shark: Jürgen Klinsmann, New Team USA Soccer Coach Alan Black 2011
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There were more birds in the air now; not only raptors of bondbird breeding, who had come to the Vale in answer to some unspoken call, but small, colorful creatures in feathered harlequin coats of red, blue, green, and yellow, with raptorial hooked bills and an uncanny ability to mimic human voices.
Widows and Orphans R. Daniel Lester 2010
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But they were raptorial, like Vree, and like him they enjoyed the hunt and the kill-when they actually succeeded at the latter, which wasn't often.
Widows and Orphans R. Daniel Lester 2010
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The Missus, after a brief passage of raptorial staring: Are you putting salami in that?
I Win The Bet! Sean Craven 2009
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Density, productivity and biomass of raptorial birds of the Sundarbans, Bangladesh.
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The Missus, after a brief passage of raptorial staring: Are you putting salami in that?
Archive 2009-02-01 Sean Craven 2009
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He further suggested that falcons ‘probably represent a raptorial branch of this radiation’ (p. 144), a suggestion presumably based on the anatomy of caracaras.
Giant hoatzins of doom Darren Naish 2006
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He further suggested that falcons ‘probably represent a raptorial branch of this radiation’ (p. 144), a suggestion presumably based on the anatomy of caracaras.
Archive 2006-11-01 Darren Naish 2006
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