fal´con|like´

fal|con «FL kuhn, FAL-, F-», noun.

1. any one of various hawks, especially the female, trained to hunt and kill birds and small game. In the Middle Ages, hunting with falcons was a popular sport.

2. the female peregrine.

3. any one of a family of birds of prey that hunt in the daytime, especially a swift-flying hawk having a short tail, a short, curved, notched bill, and long wings and claws. Falcons take their quarry as it moves.

4. a short, light cannon of the 1400's through the 1600's.

╂[< Old French faucon < Late Latin falcō, -ōnis < Latin falx, falcis sickle (because of its hooked talons). See related etym. at falchion. (Cf. ↑falchion)]

–fal´con|like´, adjective.