Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

hen harrier

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
noun British.
  1. northern harrier.

Origin of hen harrier

First recorded in 1555–65
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hen harrier

Historical Examples

  • The hen-harrier breeds only in the Orkneys and the Outer Hebrides.

    Birds in Flight

    W. P. Pycraft

  • The Hen-Harrier (circus cyaneus), a more active bird than the buzzard, is another of the “Ichabods.”

  • Ringteal or ringtail is the female of the Circus cyaneus or hen-harrier, another species of falcon.

  • The one in question, Lucien said, was the “marsh-hawk,” sometimes also called the “hen-harrier” (Falco uliginosus).

  • When out grouse shooting one day I saw a hen-harrier strike and kill a grouse just beyond gunshot.

    Gairloch In North-West Ross-Shire

    John H. Dixon, F.S.A. Scot

British Dictionary definitions for hen harrier

hen harrier

noun
  1. a common harrier, Circus cyaneus, that flies over fields and marshes and nests in marshes and open landUS and Canadian names: marsh hawk, marsh harrier
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012