gyrfalcon

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Pronunciation

• (British) IPA: /ˈdʒɜːfɔːlkən/
• (America) IPA: /ˈdʒɝˌfælkən/

Noun

gyrfalcon (plural gyrfalcons)

1. (obsolete) Any large falcon, especially as used to fly at herons.
2. Falco rusticolus, a large bird of prey that breeds on Arctic coasts and islands of North America, Europe and Asia.
   • 2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre 2008, p. 132:

     [...] the usurper Buljan ordered that his sukkah be erected on the donjon's roof, with its [...] relative nearness to the stars, among which his sky-worshiping and uncircumcised ancestors still hunted with infallible gyrfalcons for celestial game.

Translations

• French: gerfaut
• German: Gierfalke, Geierfalke, Gerfalke, Jagdfalke
• Italian: girfalco, girifalco
• Portuguese: gerifalte
• Russian: кре́чет
• Spanish: gerifalte, halcón gerifalte, gerifalco

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