osprey
pronunciation
How to pronounce osprey in British English:
UK [ˈɒspreɪ]
How to pronounce osprey in American English:
US [ˈɑspreɪ]
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- Noun:
- large harmless hawk found worldwide that feeds on fish and builds a bulky nest often occupied for years
Word Origin
- osprey
- osprey: [15] Etymologically, the osprey is simply a ‘bird of prey’. Its name comes from ospreit, the Old French descendant of Vulgar Latin *avispreda, which in turn was a conflation of Latin avis praedae ‘bird of prey’ (avis is the source of English augur, auspice, aviary, and aviation, and praeda is the ancestor of English prey).The specific association with the ‘osprey’ came about in Old French through confusion with the coincidentally similar osfraie ‘osprey’. This meant etymologically ‘bone-breaker’. It came from Latin ossifraga, a compound formed from os ‘bone’ (source of English ossify [18]) and frangere ‘break’ (source of English fracture, fragment, etc).It was originally applied to the lammergeier, a large vulture, in allusion to its habit of dropping its prey from a great height on to rocks beneath in order to break its bones, but was subsequently also used for the osprey.=> aviary, prey
- osprey (n.)
- fishing hawk, mid-15c., from Anglo-French ospriet, from Medieval Latin avis prede "bird of prey," from Latin avis praedæ, a generic term apparently confused with this specific bird in Old French on its similarity to ossifrage.
Example
- 1. The osprey is a u.s. marine corps aircraft recently introduced into okinawa despite strong local protests .
- 2. Species like the bald eagle , peregrine falcon and osprey nearly disappeared .
- 3. Of birds these are they which you must not eat , and which are to be avoided by you : the eagle , and the griffon , and the osprey .
- 4. Also on their agenda was the shifting of osprey drills to bases on the mainland of japan .
- 5. At dawn , bin laden was loaded into the belly of a flip-wing v-22 osprey , accompanied by a jsoc liaison officer and a security detail of military police .