buzzard
See also: Buzzard
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowing from Anglo-Norman buisart, from Old French buison, buson (French buse), possibly from Latin buteō.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
buzzard (plural buzzards)
- Any of several Old World birds of prey of the genus Buteo with broad wings and a broad tail.
- In North America, a general term for scavenging birds such as the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus), and the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura).
- (colloquial, derogatory, slang, often preceded by "old", the "old buzzard") A curmudgeonly or cantankerous man; an old person; a mean, greedy person.
- (archaic) A blockhead; a dunce.
- 1640, George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, etc., in The Remains of that Sweet Singer of the Temple George Herbert, London: Pickering, 1841, p. 142,[1]
- An old man’s shadow is better than a young buzzard’s sword.
- 1774, Oliver Goldsmith, Animated Nature, Volume 6, Index,[2]
- It is common, to a proverb, to call one who can not be taught, or who continues obstinately ignorant, a buzzard.
- 1640, George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, etc., in The Remains of that Sweet Singer of the Temple George Herbert, London: Pickering, 1841, p. 142,[1]
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from buzzard
Translations[edit]
bird of the genus Buteo
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scavenging bird — see vulture
slang or derogatory term for a person
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Further reading[edit]
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English colloquialisms
- English derogatory terms
- English slang
- English terms with archaic senses
- en:Buteos
- en:Vultures
