Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Chiefly British A kestrel.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A kind of hawk, the kestrel, Falco tinunculus or Tinnunculus alaudarius: so called from its hovering in the face of the wind. See kestrel. Also called windbibber, windcuffer, windfanner, windhawk, windsucker, vanner-hawk, staniel, etc.
Wiktionary
- n. UK The common kestrel.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.), Prov. Eng. The kestrel; -- called also
windbibber ,windcuffer ,windfanner .
Etymologies
- wind + hover, due to this bird’s habit of beating the wind (hovering), compare earlier windfucker. First recorded 1674. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“This beautiful picture of a flying kestrel, or windhover, is courtesy of the folks at Stanford University: www. stanford.edu/~petelat1/kestrel. jpg”
“The novelist Nicholas Royle would be heartbroken if the "windhover" were to vanish.”
“But from April onwards, as the air temperature rises, these beautiful falcons rise up again, amply justifying their wonderful folk-name, the windhover, made famous by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.”
“Yes, it is, and from this habit it has got the name of windhover; the outspread tail is suspended and the head always points in the direction of the wind.”
“If it were really an enemy to the dovecot, we should see the pigeons in commotion as soon as it begins its evening flight; but the pigeons heed it not: whereas if the sparrow-hawk or windhover should make their appearance, the whole community would be up at once, proof sufficient that the barn owl is not looked upon as a bad, or even a suspicious, character by the inhabitants of the dovecot.”
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 19, No. 530, January 21, 1832
“The kestrel, or windhover, has a peculiar mode of hanging in the air in one place, his wings all the while being briskly agitated.”
“The kestrel is the bird known in England as the windhover, on account of its habit of hovering in mid-air on rapidly-vibrating wings before pouncing on the lizard or other small fry, for which it is ever on the watch.”
“Moors an 'moors an' moors, wi 'never a tree for shelter, an' gray houses wi 'flagstone rooves, and pewits cryin', an 'a windhover goin' to and fro just like these kites.”
“Moors an 'moors an' moors, wi 'never a tree for shelter, an' grey houses wi 'flagstone rooves, and pewits cryin', an 'a windhover goin' to and fro just like these kites.”
“For more on the company's products and services, please see www. windhover.com.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘windhover’.
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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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Bird Wirds: Sundry Nicknames
A list of birders' "shorthand" names, traditional nicknames, non-English names, and obsolete names for feathered creatures worldwide.
Interesting blog entry here on naming U.S. birds.welsh ambassador, goatsucker, french magpie, timberdoodle, butterbutt, popinjay, logcock, old cranky, long john, sprog, butterbum, wedgie and 697 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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One more switchback
Tip of the hat to Stephen, who always tells me "only one more switchback" as we go up the trail. Usually it is a lie, but it still works!
switchback, heavens to murgat..., prosody, catarrh, ice storm, existential, predicament, intermingle, comingle, stolid, zeitgeist, bibliophage and 146 more...
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Gerard Manley Hopkins words
inwit, bell-swarmed, lark-charmed, rook-racked, bleared, self-instressed, flitches, frailest-flixed, brinded, stipple, adazzle, dare-gale and 13 more...
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The poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, ...
That Nature Is A Heraclitean Fire And Of The Comfort Of The Resurrection
Cloud-puffball, torn tufts, tossed pillows flaunt forth, then chevy on an air-built thoroughfare: heaven-roy...inscape, sprung rhythm, instress, chevy, heaven-roysterer, gay-gang, roughcast, whitewash, shivelight, shadowtackle, yestertempest, rutpeel and 49 more...
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perhapsolutely's Words
polyradiculoneuro..., abulia, abubble, abscission, abaft, zareba, abatis, abigail, abiogenesis, ablate, ablaut, abo and 1705 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for windhover.
reesetee As in The Windhover. :-) Jul 22, 2007
slumry kestrel Jul 21, 2007