Buzzard

Quick meaning: Buzzard is a noun meaning Any of several Old World birds of prey of the genus Buteo with broad wings and a broad tail.

Meaning

Any of several Old World birds of prey of the genus Buteo with broad wings and a broad tail.

More Meanings

1. (Canada, US) Any scavenging bird, such as the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus) or the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura).
2. (golf) Synonym of double bogey.
3. (US, military slang, World War I) A fighter plane.
4. (US, military slang, 20th century) The insignia of a colonel, or a petty officer within the navy.
5. (US, military slang, 1860s–1920s) A military discharge (due to the military discharge certificate).
6. (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.
7. (archaic) A blockhead; a dunce.

Example Sentences

It is common, to a proverb, to call one who can not be taught, or who continues obstinately ignorant, a buzzard.

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.

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.

Word Forms

• buzzards

Synonyms for buzzard

Depending on context, synonyms include buteo, broadwing, vulture.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include vulture, hawk, turkey, nozzle, culvert, belled.

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