BUZZARD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does buzzard mean? 

• BUZZARD (noun)
  The noun BUZZARD has 2 senses:

1. a New World vulture that is common in South America and Central America and the southern United States

2. the common European short-winged hawk

  Familiarity information: BUZZARD used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BUZZARD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A New World vulture that is common in South America and Central America and the southern United States

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

buzzard; Cathartes aura; turkey buzzard; turkey vulture

Hypernyms ("buzzard" is a kind of...):

cathartid; New World vulture (large birds of prey superficially similar to Old World vultures)

Holonyms ("buzzard" is a member of...):

Cathartes; genus Cathartes (type genus of the Cathartidae: turkey vultures)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The common European short-winged hawk

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

Buteo buteo; buzzard

Hypernyms ("buzzard" is a kind of...):

hawk (diurnal bird of prey typically having short rounded wings and a long tail)

Holonyms ("buzzard" is a member of...):

Buteo; genus Buteo (broad-winged soaring hawks)

 Context examples 

I told him, “that in the kingdom of Tribnia, by the natives called Langdon, where I had sojourned some time in my travels, the bulk of the people consist in a manner wholly of discoverers, witnesses, informers, accusers, prosecutors, evidences, swearers, together with their several subservient and subaltern instruments, all under the colours, the conduct, and the pay of ministers of state, and their deputies. The plots, in that kingdom, are usually the workmanship of those persons who desire to raise their own characters of profound politicians; to restore new vigour to a crazy administration; to stifle or divert general discontents; to fill their coffers with forfeitures; and raise, or sink the opinion of public credit, as either shall best answer their private advantage. It is first agreed and settled among them, what suspected persons shall be accused of a plot; then, effectual care is taken to secure all their letters and papers, and put the owners in chains. These papers are delivered to a set of artists, very dexterous in finding out the mysterious meanings of words, syllables, and letters: for instance, they can discover a close stool, to signify a privy council; a flock of geese, a senate; a lame dog, an invader; the plague, a standing army; a buzzard, a prime minister; the gout, a high priest; a gibbet, a secretary of state; a chamber pot, a committee of grandees; a sieve, a court lady; a broom, a revolution; a mouse-trap, an employment; a bottomless pit, a treasury; a sink, a court; a cap and bells, a favourite; a broken reed, a court of justice; an empty tun, a general; a running sore, the administration.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)