buzzard
See also: Buzzard
English
Common buzzard, Buteo buteo, an Old World buzzard
American black vulture, Coragyps atratus
Etymology
From Middle English bosart, from Anglo-Norman buisart, from Old French busart, busard, a derivative ( + -ard) of Old French buison, buson (French buse), possibly from Latin būteō (“hawk”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbʌzəɹd/
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
buzzard (plural buzzards)
- Any of several Old World birds of prey of the genus Buteo with broad wings and a broad tail.
- (Canada, US) Any scavenging bird, such as the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus) or the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura).
- (colloquial, derogatory, slang, often preceded by "old", the "old buzzard") In North America, a curmudgeonly or cantankerous man; an old person; a mean, greedy person.
- 1995, LaRee Bryant, Forever, My Love, page 88:
- Perhaps the crusty old buzzard loved his only child more than anyone had given him credit for all these years — maybe even more than he himself had realized.
- (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,
- An old man’s shadow is better than a young buzzard’s sword.
- 1774, Oliver Goldsmith, Animated Nature, volume 6, Index:
- 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,
- (golf) Synonym of double bogey
- (US, military slang, World War I) A fighter plane.
- (US, military slang, 20th century) The insignia of a colonel, or a petty officer within the navy.
- (US, military slang, 1860s–1920s) A military discharge (due to the military discharge certificate).
Synonyms
Derived terms
- augur buzzard, Buteo augur
- buzzard bait
- common buzzard, Buteo buteo
- crested honey buzzard
- eastern buzzard, Buteo japonicus
- European honey buzzard
- forest buzzard, Buteo trizonatus
- gag a buzzard off a gut wagon
- grasshopper buzzard, Butastur rufipennis
- grey-faced buzzard, Butastur indicus
- honey buzzard
- jackal buzzard, Buteo rufofuscus
- knock a buzzard off a gut wagon
- knock a buzzard off a shit wagon
- lizard buzzard, Kaupifalco monogrammicus
- long-legged buzzard, Buteo rufinus
- Madagascar buzzard, Buteo brachypterus
- moor buzzard
- mountain buzzard, Buteo oreophilus
- red-necked buzzard, Buteo auguralis
- rough-legged buzzard
- rufous-winged buzzard, Butastur liventer
- stink a buzzard off a gut wagon
- turkey buzzard
- upland buzzard, Buteo hemilasius
- white-eyed buzzard, Butastur teesa
Translations
bird of the genus Buteo
|
scavenging bird — see vulture
References
- Lighter, Jonathan (1972) “The Slang of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, 1917-1919: An Historical Glossary”, in American Speech, volume 47, number 1/2, pages 27–28
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