bird of prey
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of bird of prey
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400
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.
Meanwhile the narrator’s financially devious husband appears as a vulture with “the brooding eye, the blood-tipped beak, the flabby folds of flesh” of a bird of prey.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 24, 2025
How do you share a film set with a notoriously fierce bird of prey?
From Barron's • Oct. 13, 2025
Like the bird of prey seeking carrion, a foreign correspondent is characterized as a misery merchant or conflict cowboy, making a living from death and disaster.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 7, 2025
Flamstead Parish Council said a falconer had been brought into the Hertfordshire village to try and catch the bird of prey which had been swooping at residents for several weeks.
From BBC • Mar. 21, 2025
He looked like an overgrown bird of prey.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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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.