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peregrine

[per-i-grin, -green, -grahyn]
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adjective
  1. foreign; alien; coming from abroad.
  2. wandering, traveling, or migrating.
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noun
  1. peregrine falcon.
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Origin of peregrine

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin peregrīnus foreign, derivative of peregrē abroad, literally, through (i.e., beyond the borders of) the field, equivalent to per- per- + -egr-, combining form of ager field + -ē adv. suffix; see -ine1
Related formsper·e·grin·i·ty [per-i-grin-i-tee] /ˌpɛr ɪˈgrɪn ɪ ti/, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for peregrine

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Thereafter, Peregrine, to the girls, was always Peregrine-Sarah.

    Highacres

    Jane Abbott

  • The Peregrine is as sound as a bell, they say—ah, she is a good ship!

    The Light of Scarthey

    Egerton Castle

  • It was as large as the Peregrine itself—certainly as large as the cutter.

    The Light of Scarthey

    Egerton Castle

  • Then glancing aloft, he understood how it was that the Peregrine had been recognised.

    The Light of Scarthey

    Egerton Castle

  • Sir Peregrine had been farming all his life, and had his own ideas on the subject.

    Orley Farm

    Anthony Trollope

British Dictionary definitions for peregrine

peregrine

adjective archaic
  1. coming from abroad
  2. travelling or migratory; wandering
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Word Origin

C14: from Latin peregrīnus foreign, from pereger being abroad, from per through + ager land (that is, beyond one's own land)
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

Word Origin and History for peregrine

n.

also peregrin, type of falcon, 1550s, short for peregrine falcon (late 14c.), from Old French faulcon pelerin (mid-13c.), from Medieval Latin falco peregrinus, from Latin peregrinus "coming from foreign parts" (see peregrination). Sense may have been a bird "caught in transit," as opposed to one taken from the nest. Peregrine as an adjective in English meaning "not native, foreign" is attested from 1520s.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper