buzzard

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various North American vultures, such as the turkey vulture.
2. n. Chiefly British A hawk of the genus Buteo, having broad wings and a broad tail.
3. n. An avaricious or otherwise unpleasant person.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In ornithology: Any hawk of the genus Buteo or subfamily Buteoninæ. (See these words.) The common buzzard of Europe is B. vulgaris, a bird about 20 inches long and about 4 feet in spread of wing, of variegated dark-brown and light colors, heavy and rather sluggish, stooping to small game. The rough-legged buzzard is Archibuteo lago-pus, with feathered shanks. See cut under Archibuteo. There are many species of Buteo, of nearly all countries.
2. n. Some other hawk, not used in falconry, with a qualifying term to indicate the species: as, the moor-buzzard, Circus æruginosus, of Europe; the honey-buzzard, Pernis apivorus; the bald buzzard, the osprey, Pandion haliaëtus. An American vulture of the family Cathartidæ; the turkey-buzzard, Cathartes aura. See cut under Cathartes.
3. n. A blockhead; a dunce.
4. n. A coward.
5. n. A hawk that flies by night.
6. n. Compare buzzard-moth.
7. Senseless; stupid.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any of several Old-World birds of prey with broad wings and a broad tail.
2. n. In North America, a general term for scavenging birds such as the American black vulture, also called American black buzzard (Coragyps atratus), and the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura).
3. n. UK, colloquial a curmudgeonly or cantankerous old man.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) A bird of prey of the Hawk family, belonging to the genus Buteo and related genera.
2. n. (Zoöl.) In the United States, a term used for the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), and sometimes indiscriminately to any vulture.
3. n. A blockhead; a dunce.
4. adj. R. & Obs. Senseless; stupid.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a New World vulture that is common in South America and Central America and the southern United States
2. n. the common European short-winged hawk