Gyrfalcon

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈdʒəːfɔːlkÉ™n/

Alternative forms

• gerfalcon, jerfalcon

Origin

From Old French gerfaucon (modern French gerfaut), with the first element probably from Old High German gīr ("vulture") (whence the German Geier).

Full definition of gyrfalcon

Noun

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.