Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various large birds of prey of the New World family Cathartidae or of the Old World family Accipitridae, characteristically having dark plumage and a featherless head and neck and generally feeding on carrion.
- n. A person of a rapacious, predatory, or profiteering nature.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One of sundry large birds, of the order Raptores, which have the head and neck more or less bare of feathers, the beak and claws less powerful than in most birds of prey, and which feed largely or wholly upon carrion. They for the most part inhabit warm countries. Birds of this description are found both in the Old World and in the New; and, misled by superficial appearances and general habits, naturalists have applied the name to membersof dilferentsuborders.
- n. Figuratively, one who or that which resembles a vulture, especially in rapacity or in the thirst for prey.
- n. The Vultur monachus.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of several carrion-eating birds of the families Accipitridae and Cathartidae.
- n. colloquial A person who profits from the suffering of others.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of rapacious birds belonging to Vultur, Cathartes, Catharista, and various other genera of the family
Vulturidæ .
WordNet 3.0
- n. someone who attacks in search of booty
- n. any of various large diurnal birds of prey having naked heads and weak claws and feeding chiefly on carrion
Etymologies
- From Latin vultur, voltur. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French voltour, from Latin vultur. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“They carry extra feed for some of the animals and leftover meat from a local butcher to stock what they call the vulture restaurant”
The Wall Street Journal: Africa Dispatch: Homes on the Range
“I don't think being a vulture is a quality we should value in a President. neverobama”
“But Mitt Romney and Bain Capital were involved with what I call vulture capitalism.”
“But you couldn't walk past a black vulture, particularly since a black vulture is a rarity.”
“Horrigan reports that "the freshness-expiration date on a dead and dangling vulture is about a month".”
“In the world of business, venture capitalism, for instance, is often referred to as "vulture capitalism.”
“The "bad guy" in Horton, a vulture, is voiced by Will Arnett, an American actor imitating a Russian speaking English.”
“The slender-billed vulture is one of several vulture species in Asia that have been driven to the brink of extinction across its entire range due to Diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug used for cattle that is highly toxic to vultures.”
“I do not believe that every vulture is a maladjusted nightingale.”
“The firms they run are sometimes described as vulture funds that manage”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘vulture’.
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birds
birds with singular names from
at least 9 English dictionariesaasvogel, aberdevine, accentor, accipiter, aepyornis, agami, albatross, alcatras, alcid, alcidine, amadavat, amokura and 1056 more...
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Cultivating Cultures
agriculture, apiculture, sericulture, horticulture, aquaculture, subculture, permaculture, monoculture, viticulture, floriculture, cyberculture, counterculture and 21 more...
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More Bird Wirds: North America
Birds endemic to the United States and/or North America.
toucan, peacock, weaver, bullfinch, redpoll, siskin, crossbill, finch, rosy-finch, oriole, cowbird, blackbird and 213 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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wordsmithing part deux
because wordsmith is not a verb.
enmity, incarnate, chignon, nape, solitude, nocturne, decorum, warren, svelte, interstice, serene, charlotte and 488 more...
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Ships
All of which are mentioned in O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels, someplace or other. Most are British navy ships, some are French navy, and others aren't either one.
See also the list Sh...franklin, surprise, agamemnon, vanguard, truelove, minerva, diane, victory, sophie, cacafuego, euryalus, alastor and 382 more...
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V
vision, void, vibrant, vile, villain, venom, venture, Venus, violence, violet, vulgar, vanity and 10 more...
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Setting the Scene: Dark and Dreary
Words that lend to the dark and dreary atmosphere of gothic literature.
dark, dreary, shroud, shrouded, veiled, skeleton, skeletal, dead, death, murky, gloomy, lugubrious and 274 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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"A List of His MAJESTY's Ships and Ve...
Boston: Re-Printed and Sold at J. Draper's Printing-Office in Newbury-Street. (Price Sixteen Pence single.)
See the companion list, A LIST of the Men of War the French have left," 174...apollo, deptford, portsmouth, princess royal, scarborough, sutherland, william and mary, mary, fubbs, dublin, charlotte, catherine and 302 more...
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Bird Names - Two Syllables
eagle, falcon, bluebird, robin, egret, raven, sora, vulture, heron, blackbird, nuthatch, grackle and 13 more...
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5-1
Hecko, words! Thanks for staying with me. :-)
avenue, viscous, zeroth, usher, scarcely, viability, snout, sole, purify, riotous, menace, moist and 364 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (U,V)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
virgin's bower, umiak, underworld, undine, unearthly, unfurl, unicorn, universe, unquiet, undead, uraeus, urn and 58 more...
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MEC3 Lesson 135
hotwire, juvenile, nightmare, delinquency, showtime, conductor, toasted, bore, doze off, vulture, hover
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Snoopy
Fifty things Snoopy: his favorites, his nemeses, what he imitated, and what he imagined.
daisy hill puppy ..., fuzzy face, skritched, ptui, shortstop, arm wrestling, beethoven, moose, kangaroo, pelican, python, polar bear and 38 more...
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The Ultimate Guide to Animal Insults
Now, I'm not trying to promote name-calling here, don't get me wrong; but let's face it...sometimes people can natter on like popinjays or pester you like gnatflies- and you should at least know wh...
buzzard, dodo, gadfly, gallows bird, gilt, grimalkin, jackal, louse, popinjay, shrew, tomcat, vixen and 17 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for vulture.
sionnach The Vulture eats between his meals,
And that's the reason why
He very, very, rarely feels
As well as you and I.
His eye is dull, his head is bald,
His neck is growing thinner.
Oh! what a lesson for us all
To only eat at dinner!
(Hilaire Belloc) Dec 31, 2007