buzzard

See also: Buzzard

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʌzəɹd/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English bosart, from Anglo-Norman buisart, from Old French busart, busard, a derivative ( +‎ -ard) of Old French buison, buson (French buse), possibly from Latin būteō (“hawk”).

Noun

buzzard (plural buzzards)

1. Any of several Old World birds of prey of the genus Buteo with broad wings and a broad tail.
2. (Canada, US) Any scavenging bird, such as the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus) or the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura).
3. (colloquial, derogatory, slang, often preceded by "old", the "old buzzard") In North America, a curmudgeonly or cantankerous man; an old person; a mean, greedy person.
   • 1995, LaRee Bryant, Forever, My Love, page 88:

     Perhaps the crusty old buzzard loved his only child more than anyone had given him credit for all these years — maybe even more than he himself had realized.

4. (archaic) A blockhead; a dunce.
   • 1640, George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, etc., in The Remains of that Sweet Singer of the Temple George Herbert, London: Pickering, 1841, p. 142,

     An old man’s shadow is better than a young buzzard’s sword.

   • 1774, Oliver Goldsmith, Animated Nature‎, volume 6, Index:

     It is common, to a proverb, to call one who can not be taught, or who continues obstinately ignorant, a buzzard.

5. (golf) Synonym of double bogey.
6. (US, military slang, World War I) A fighter plane.
7. (US, military slang, 20th century) The insignia of a colonel, or a petty officer within the navy.
8. (US, military slang, 1860s–1920s) A military discharge (due to the military discharge certificate).

Synonyms

• buteo
• broadwing
• turkey vulture
• vulture

Coordinate terms

(golf):

• bogey
• par
• birdie
• eagle
• albatross
• condor
• ostrich

Derived terms

• augur buzzard, Buteo augur
• belled buzzard
• buzzard bait
• buzzard-eagle
• buzzardet
• buzzardlike
• common buzzard, Buteo buteo
• crested honey buzzard
• eastern buzzard, Buteo japonicus
• European honey buzzard
• forest buzzard, Buteo trizonatus
• gag a buzzard off a gut wagon
• grasshopper buzzard, Butastur rufipennis
• grey-faced buzzard, Butastur indicus
• honey buzzard
• jackal buzzard, Buteo rufofuscus
• knock a buzzard off a gut wagon
• knock a buzzard off a shit wagon
• lizard buzzard, Kaupifalco monogrammicus
• long-legged buzzard, Buteo rufinus
• Madagascar buzzard, Buteo brachypterus
• moor buzzard
• mountain buzzard, Buteo oreophilus
• red-necked buzzard, Buteo auguralis
• rough-legged buzzard
• rufous-winged buzzard, Butastur liventer
• stink a buzzard off a gut wagon
• turkey buzzard
• upland buzzard, Buteo hemilasius
• white-eyed buzzard, Butastur teesa

Translations

bird of the genus Buteo

Albanian: hutë (sq) f Arabic: حَوَام m (ḥawām) Armenian: լալկան բազե (lalkan baze) Basque: zapelatz Belarusian: каня f (kanja) Breton: baou (br) f Bulgarian: обикновен мишелов m (obiknoven mišelov) Catalan: aligot (ca) m, aguilot m Cherokee: ᏑᎵ (suli) Chinese: Mandarin: 鵟 / 𫛭 (zh) (kuáng) Choctaw: sheki Czech: káně (cs) n Danish: musvåge (da) Dutch: buizerd (nl) m Esperanto: buteo Estonian: hiireviu (et) Faroese: músvákur m Finnish: hiirihaukka (fi) French: buse (fr) f Louisiana French: carencro Friulian: cagne, poiane Galician: miñato (gl) m, bexato (gl) m, buxardo m, buzaco m Georgian: კაკაჩა (ḳaḳača) German: Bussard (de) m Greek: γερακίνα (el) f (gerakína) Ancient: τριόρχης (triórkhēs) Hebrew: עַקָּב (he) m ('aqáv) Hungarian: ölyv (hu) Icelandic: músvákur (is) m Indonesian: sikep Irish: clamhán m Isthmus Zapotec: nguʼxhiʼ Italian: poiana (it) f Japanese: 鵟 (ja) (ノスリ, nosuri) Kazakh: жамансары (jamansary), ақсары (aqsary) Khmer: ត្មាត (km) (tmaat) Korean: 말똥가리 (malttonggari) Ladin: gabinel Latin: būteō m Latvian: klijāns m Lithuanian: suopis (lt) m Lower Sorbian: pašturlica f Macedonian: јастреб глувчар m (jastreb gluvčar) Maltese: kuċċarda prima f Nahuatl: caxtīllān cuāuhtohtli Northern Sami: sáhpánboaimmáš, sáhpánfálli Norwegian: musvåk (Buteo buteo) Bokmål: våk m Nynorsk: våk m Occitan: tartana f Old English: tysċa m Persian: سارگپه (sârgape) Polish: myszołów (pl) m Portuguese: águia-de-asa-redonda (pt) f, milhafre (pt) m Romani: worolo m, worla f Romanian: șoricar (ro) m Romansch: girun m Russian: каню́к (ru) m (kanjúk), сары́ч (ru) m (sarýč) Sardinian: stori furapuddas, tappàiu, pilloni farrancau Scottish Gaelic: clamhan m, àrmhaigh m, (please verify) gilm m, (please verify) stannaire m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ми̏ша̄р m, шка́њац m Roman: mȉšār (sh) m, škánjac (sh) m Slovak: myšiak lesný m Slovene: kanja f Spanish: águila ratonera f, ratonero común m, busardo m, gallinazo (es) m, sopilote m, samuro m, jote (es) m, urubú m, cute (es) m Swedish: ormvråk (sv) Tagalog: buharo Tarifit: asiwan m Turkish: şahin (tr) Ukrainian: каню́к m (kanjúk) Upper Sorbian: pašturlica, paskulica Venetan: pója f Volapük: busar (vo) Welsh: boncath m, bwncath m West Frisian: mûzefalk (fy)

scavenging bird — see vulture

slang or derogatory term for a person

French: sale bougre m, sale bougresse f German: alter Gauner m, alte Gaunerin f Macedonian: де́де n (déde) Polish: piernik (pl) m, zgred m Russian: хрыч (ru) m (xryč) (old man)

References

• Lighter, Jonathan (1972), “The Slang of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, 1917-1919: An Historical Glossary”, in American Speech‎, volume 47, number 1/2, pages 27–28

Etymology 2

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Noun

buzzard (plural buzzards)

1. (euphemistic) A bastard.

Usage notes

Dubbing of movies for television often replaces Fuck you! with Forget you!, bastard with buzzard, fucking with stinking, and prick with pig.

Further reading

• buzzard on Wikipedia.Wikipedia