falconry
Americannoun
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the sport of hunting with falcons, hawks, eagles, etc.; hawking.
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the art of training hawks to hunt.
noun
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the art of keeping falcons and training them to return from flight to a lure or to hunt quarry
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the sport of causing falcons to return from flight to their trainer and to hunt quarry under his or her direction
Etymology
Origin of falconry
Explanation
Falconry is the art of training birds of prey. It involves wearing a cool claw-proof glove and getting giant birds to hunt for you. A young King Arthur practices falconry in The Sword in the Stone. Historians believe that the sport of falconry may have started in ancient Mesopotamia. To practice falconry, you need a falcon that's trained to hunt small animals and return to its handler, or falconer. If a hawk or eagle is used instead of a falcon, the sport is still called falconry, but the handler is an austringer. The words falconry and falcon come from the Latin root falx, "curved blade," which can describe the shape of a falcon's talons, beak, or spread wings.
Vocabulary lists containing falconry
Medieval Europe - Introductory
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Chronicle of a Death Foretold
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Medieval Europe - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The talismanic vocabulary of falconry is threaded through this raw-nerved memoir by an experienced British falconer who dealt with the pain of losing a father by training a young goshawk called Mabel.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026
A falconry centre in mid Wales is hoping to breed life-saving rare African hooded vultures to help save them from extinction.
From BBC • Aug. 25, 2025
The Eurasian eagle-owl is also commonly used in falconry, selling for as much as $3,000.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 1, 2024
Long before soccer fever swept Qatar, peaking with its hosting of the World Cup this year, the sport of falconry was a point of national pride.
From New York Times • Dec. 15, 2022
“That’s what falconry is today,” Officer Conklin adds.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
