falcon ( l silent), faucon, faucoun, faulcon

[O. Fr. falcon, faulcon; Fr. faucon, from Lat. falco, so called from the hooked shape of the claws, from falx (gen it. falcis ) =a scythe, a sickle.] 1. Zool.: One of the Falconine, a sub-family of the Falcon ide (q.v.). The beak is short, curved from the base with one or two strong indentations on the margin on each side. Wings IMG:content-1374.jpg:[graphic] very long. The best known species is the Peregrine falcon ( Falco peregrin us ), so named from its wonderful distribution over the earth's surface. [PEREGRINE.] It has always been held in the greatest esteem for hawking. It is of a bluish-gray color, narrowly barred with black; length of male about fifteen inches, of female about seventeen inches. It still breeds in some places on our coasts on high Peregrine Falcon. regarded by the unthinking Mohammedan multi-rocks. Technically in falconry the female alone is tude as men of great sanctity. There are many ramifications both of the fixed and the wandering Fakirs. 2. A slang name given in this country to one of the numerous street merchants and mountebanks that infest our larger towns and cities; a peddler. çell, chorus, chin, bench; go, gem; thin, this; termed a falcon, the male, which is smaller and le courageous, being known as a tersel or tiercel. [TERSEL.] "Our hopes, like towering falcons , aim At objects in an airy height." Prior: To Hon. C. Montague. sin, as; expect, Xenophon, exist. ph = f. The American Dictionary and Cyclopedia *2. Old Ord.: A kind of ancient cannon whose dimensions have been variously stated, one au thority (Tom lins on) stating that it was seven feet long and projected a four-pound shot, while another represents it as having an outside diameter at the bore of five and a quarter inches, and carrying a shot of from one and a quarter to two pounds.