Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A fish-eating hawk (Pandion haliaetus) having plumage that is dark on the back and white below. Also called fish hawk.
- n. A plume formerly used to trim women's hats.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A bird of prey (Pandion haliaetus) that feeds on fish and has white underparts and long, narrow wings each ending in four finger-like extensions.
- n. aigrette (ornamental feather)
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. The fishhawk (Pandion haliaetus).
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A diurnal bird of prey of the family Falconidæ and the genus Pandion; a fish-hawk.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. large harmless hawk found worldwide that feeds on fish and builds a bulky nest often occupied for years
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
-
An eagle flew overhead, then a bird Alex said was called an osprey.
-
The osprey is a cuter as well as a heavier bird, and, in the phrase of the blacks, “That fella carn let go!”
-
Yes, the osprey was a wonderful fisherman, who could snatch a fish from the water in his sure claws.
-
The osprey is a cuter as well as a heavier bird, and, in the phrase of the blacks, "That fella carn let go!"
-
Lucien informed them that the osprey is a bird common to both
-
The osprey is a bird of the falcon tribe, and one of the largest of the genus -- measuring two feet from bill to tail, with an immense spread of wing in proportion, being nearly six feet from tip to tip.
-
Birds such as osprey Pandion haliaetus and peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus occur within the designated areas.
-
The site has a rich marine fauna and is a key site for species such as osprey and bearded vultures.
-
Untroubled by these strange events, a young woman walks calmly towards the castle, a little further on, carrying a basket of eggs and butter on her head, and above her some new kind of osprey flies away with a protesting pike.
-
A few days after, another incident occurred to our voyageurs, which illustrated the habits of a very interesting bird, the "osprey," or fish-hawk, as it is more familiarly known in America.
reesetee commented on the word osprey
Haha! I know people like that.
October 21, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word osprey
Osprey in the news here.
October 21, 2008
reesetee commented on the word osprey
Heehee.
January 15, 2008
uselessness commented on the word osprey
Ford Prefect must have written that definition.
January 15, 2008
sionnach commented on the word osprey
See pandionine.
January 14, 2008
reesetee commented on the word osprey
Bizarre! Wonder how "harmless" made it in there?
January 14, 2008
yarb commented on the word osprey
Weirdnet gets slightly encyclopaedic on this one. And harmless? Not if you're a fish.
January 14, 2008