raptor
a raptorial bird.
Informal. a velociraptor or other small dinosaur with similar characteristics.
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Origin of raptor
1Words Nearby raptor
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use raptor in a sentence
After high school, they drove a Chevy out west on dirt roads, catching raptors en route, and published an article about the experience in National Geographic.
They might be expected to shun company, in typical raptor fashion, yet they bring a corvid’s social nature to their encounters with others.
The bad news is that nearly all of the established routes are closed from March through August to allow raptors to breed in peace.
Migrating raptors are all but guaranteed to be soaring over Cadillac Mountain from mid-August to mid-October.
The Ultimate Acadia National Park Travel Guide | Virginia M. Wright | February 8, 2021 | Outside OnlineIn the off-season, I’d trained in raptor handling at The raptor Center at the University of Minnesota and had learned that hesitation with a defensive raptor doesn’t do anyone any good.
The quest to snare—and save—the world’s largest owl | Jonathan Slaght | August 28, 2020 | Popular-Science
The raptor carries six AMRAAMs and two shorter range AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles inside its weapons bays.
Pentagon Worries That Russia Can Now Outshoot U.S. Stealth Jets | Dave Majumdar | December 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHigh flying and fast, the F-22 raptor stealth jet is by far the most lethal fighter America has ever built.
Pentagon Worries That Russia Can Now Outshoot U.S. Stealth Jets | Dave Majumdar | December 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThat means it could take several missile shots to kill an enemy fighter, even for an advanced stealth aircraft like the raptor.
Pentagon Worries That Russia Can Now Outshoot U.S. Stealth Jets | Dave Majumdar | December 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe Fish and Wildlife officer told him that it was illegal to possess a protected species or a raptor.
He was charged with two counts of possessing a raptor and two counts of possessing a protected species.
The latter seemed to regard the owl as the greater enemy, but ordinarily any large raptor arouses their hostility.
Observations on the Mississippi Kite in Southwestern Kansas | Henry S. FitchLike its smaller relatives the Sharp-shin and Cooper's Hawks, this powerful raptor is a relentless hunter of birds.
What Bird is That? | Frank M. ChapmanThe shell is polished and exceedingly fragile, a rare thing in the eggs of a raptor.
Argentine Ornithology, Volume II (of 2) | P. L. SclaterThe braincase of the skull is crushed in three places as though by a raptor's beak.
American Weasels | E. Raymond HallWhite excreta of a large bird beside the carcass indicated predation by a raptor, probably a horned owl.
Ecology of the Opossum on a Natural Area in Northeastern Kansas | Henry S. Fitch
British Dictionary definitions for raptor
/ (ˈræptə) /
another name for bird of prey
informal a carnivorous bipedal dinosaur of the late Cretaceous period
Origin of raptor
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for raptor
[ răp′tər ]
A bird of prey, such as a hawk, eagle, or owl.
Any of various mostly small, slender, carnivorous dinosaurs of the Cretaceous Period. Raptors had hind legs that were adapted for leaping and large, curved claws used for grasping and tearing at prey. Raptors were probably related to birds, and some even had feathers.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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