▪ I. buzzard, n.1
(ˈbʌzəd)
Forms: 3 busard, 4–6 bosarde, 5 bosard, buserde, (busherde), busserd, 5–7 bussard, 6 busarde, bussarde, (bousarde, basert), buzarde, buzzarde, 6–7 buzard, 7 busard, 7– buzzard, (Sc. 6 bissart, 8 bizzard, 9 buzzart, dial. buzzert).
[a. OF. busart = Pr. buzart; cf. the synonymous Pr. buzac, It. bozzago, -agro, abuzzago, F. buse (16th c. in Littré). The mutual relation of these words is unknown; they are commonly assumed to be derived from L. buteōn-em of same meaning, but the process of formation is not evident.]
1. a. Name for the genus Buteo of birds of the falcon family, esp. B. vulgaris. Applied also, with defining words, to other birds belonging to the Falconidæ: as bald buzzard, the Osprey, Pandion haliaëtus; honey buzzard, Pernis apivorus; moor buzzard, Circus æruginosus.
The buzzard was an inferior kind of hawk, useless for falconry; hence app. sense 2. Cf. Fr. buse buzzard, also ‘sot, ignorant, stupide’, Boiste; ‘imbecille’ Littré. (The chronology appears to make it impossible to connect this sense with the next word.)
| c 1300 K. Alis. 3049 Nultou never..No faucon mak of busard, No hardy knyght mak of coward. c 1400 Rom. Rose 4033 Man may for no dauntyng Make a sperhauke of a bosarde. 1486 Bk. St. Albans B ij, An hauke that is broght vp vnder a Bussard or a Puttocke. 1533 Act 25 Hen. VIII, xi. §6 Crowes, choughes, rauons, and bosardes. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. i. 133 That the Eagles should be mew'd, Whiles Kites and Buzards play at liberty. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 715 The short winged hawkes are, etc...some intrude the Bauld Buzzard. a 1734 North Exam. iii. viii. ¶70. 638 An Historian and a Libeller are as different as Hawk and Buzzard. 1789 G. White Selborne ii. xli. (1853) 267 Kites and buzzards sail round in circles. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 66 The moor buzzard still frequents the waste which surrounds Lindholme. |
b. between hawk and buzzard: (see quot. 1662).
| 1636 Abp. Williams Holy Table (1637) 226 [To] awake him thus between Hawk and Buzzard. 1662 Janua Ling. §146 (N.) Between hawk and buzzard, means between a good thing and a bad of the same kind: the hawk being the true sporting bird, the buzzard a heavy lazy fowl of the same species. 1775 N. Cresswell Jrnl. (1924) 147 We are between Hawk and Buzzard. 1832 [see hawk n.1 1 c]. 1895 E. C. Brewer Dict. Phr. & Fable 193 Between hawk and buzzard. Not quite a lady or gentleman, nor quite a servant. Applied to tutors in private houses [etc.]. 1904 Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Ky.) 12 July 4 The intelligence of the Commonwealth found itself literally between hawk and buzzard. It hovered in the balance. |
2. fig. A worthless, stupid, or ignorant person. Often with the adj. blind; also used euphem. = bastard n. 1 c.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 266, I rede eche a blynde bosarde do bote to hym-selue. 1401 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 98 Thou blundyrst As a blynde buserde. 1549 Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 36 Wo worth such counsellers, bishops, nay rather bussardes. 1571 R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 111 Those blind bussardes, who..would neyther learne themselues, nor could teach others. 1652 Gataker Antinom. 31 A company of..blind blundering bussards. a 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) II. ii. v. 49 It is common to a proverb, to call one who cannot be taught, or continues obstinately ignorant, a buzzard. 1807 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 101 That unlucky passage of Shakspeare which..has..puzzled..many a somniferous buzzard. 1822 Scott Nigel ii. 1889 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang, Buzzard (American), an oppressive, arrogant person, jealous of rivalry, and vindictive. 1918 Mulford Man fr. Bar-20 viii. 77 ‘Pop’, he said, sharply, ‘who is this buzzard?’ Ibid. xi. 108 You two buzzards are about as cheerful an' pleasant as a rattler in August. 1939 A. Huxley After Many a Summer i. v. 57 Not that he was doing anything spectacular with the old buzzard at the moment. 1960 J. Wain Nuncle 163, I could never have accused the old buzzard of caring excessively for me as a person. |
3. attrib. or as adj. a. Of a buzzard; resembling a buzzard's{ddd}
| 1878 Tennyson Q. Mary i. iv. 29 His buzzard beak and deep-incavern'd eyes Half fright me. |
b. Senseless, stupid, ‘blind’.
| 1592 Constable Poems v. (1859) 34 Lowe on the ground with buzzard Cupids wings. 1649 Milton Eikon. i. Wks. (1847) 280/1 A buzzard idol. 1844 Carlyle Misc. (1857) IV. 314 Ignorance and buzzard stupidity. |
4. Comb., as buzzard-blind, buzzard-like, adjs.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 179 Compare with this blynd Philosophy of Cicero, the Divinitie of Osorius in all respectes as bussardlyke. 1590 C. S. Right Relig. 9 Is anie man so buzzardlike, or so blockishly blind? 1619 Fletcher M. Thomas iii. i, Do not anger me, For by this hand I'le beat the buzard blind then. |
▪ II. ˈbuzzard, n.2 dial.
[f. buzz v.1 + -ard.]
1. A name applied to various insects that fly by night, e.g. large moths and cockchafers. (Undoubted instances of its use in earlier times are wanting. Cf. buzzer1.)
[Cf. Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. 209, where there is perh. a play on this sense. Also, the following among other passages: 1654 Gayton Fest. Notes 188 (N.) O owle! hast thou only kept company with bats, buzzards, and beetles in this long retirement in the desert.]
| 1825 Hood Ode to Graham, They are wise that choose the near, A few small buzzards in the ear, To organs ages hence. 1875 Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.) 64 He's olez after buzzerts and things. |
2. = buzzer1 3.
| 1878 Grosart in H. More's Poems Index 211/1 The steam⁓whistle for calling the mill-operatives to work is named ‘buzzard’ in Lancashire (Blackburn). |
Comb. buzzard-clock, a cockchafer.
| 1864 Tennyson North. Farmer 18 An' [I] 'eerd un a bummin' awaäy loike a buzzard-clock ower my yeäd. 1877 E. Peacock N.-W. Lincoln. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Buzzard-clock, a kind of beetle; a cockchafer. |
▪ III. † ˈbuzzard, v. Obs.
[cf. buzzard n.1 2.]
? To make a ‘buzzard’ of, puzzle completely, nonplus.
| 1624 Mountagu Immed. Addresse 185 Baronius is plainely buzzarded in the point, and wisely concealing that which hee could not reconcile, passeth it ouer as in a dreame. |