osprey

[os-pree]

noun

plural

ospreys 

1. Also called fish hawk. a large hawk, Pandion haliaetus, that feeds on fish.

2. a plume for trimming hats.

osprey

/ ˈɒsprɪ, -preɪ /

noun

1. Often called (US and Canadian): fish hawk. a large broad-winged fish-eating diurnal bird of prey, Pandion haliaetus, with a dark back and whitish head and underparts: family Pandioridae

2. any of the feathers of various other birds, used esp as trimming for hats

Word History and Origins

Origin of osprey¹

1425–75; late Middle English ospray ( e ) ≪ Latin ossifraga ossifrage; compare Middle French orfraie, offraie, Old French ospres

Word History and Origins

Origin of osprey¹

C15: from Old French ospres, apparently from Latin ossifraga, literally: bone-breaker, from os bone + frangere to break

Example Sentences

With him was Geoffrey McQuilkin, the Mono Lake Committee’s executive director, who held binoculars as he pointed out ospreys, American avocets, Wilson’s phalaropes and other birds.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Gilestone Farm in Powys was originally bought for £4.75m but plans to help Green Man festival's owners were abandoned when ospreys started nesting there.

Read more on BBC

Its native grasses and forested hillsides host nesting ospreys and more than 200 other bird species, along with mule deer, wild turkeys, coyotes and the rare pipevine swallowtail butterfly.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The chemical had “lasting impacts on the food chain” because it was ingested by the fish the eagles and ospreys ate, making the shells of eggs too thin.

Read more on Seattle Times

But they are out there, along with the Cooper’s hawks and peregrine falcons and ospreys and eagles.

Read more on Seattle Times