Ossifrage

Ossifrage
   Heb. peres = to "break" or "crush", the lammer-geier, or bearded vulture, the largest of the whole vulture tribe. It was an unclean bird (Lev. 11:13; Deut. 14:12). It is not a gregarious bird, and is found but rarely in Palestine. "When the other vultures have picked the flesh off any animal, he comes in at the end of the feast, and swallows the bones, or breaks them, and swallows the pieces if he cannot otherwise extract the marrow. The bones he cracks [hence the appropriateness of the name ossifrage, i.e., "bone-breaker"] by letting them fall on a rock from a great height. He does not, however, confine himself to these delicacies, but whenever he has an opportunity will devour lambs, kids, or hares. These he generally obtains by pushing them over cliffs, when he has watched his opportunity; and he has been known to attack men while climbing rocks, and dash them against the bottom. But tortoises and serpents are his ordinary food...No doubt it was a lammer-geier that mistook the bald head of the poet AEschylus for a stone, and dropped on it the tortoise which killed him" (Tristram's Nat. Hist.).

Easton's Bible Dictionary. . 1897.

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  • ossifrage — ● ossifrage nom masculin (latin ossifragus, qui brise les os) Autre nom du pétrel géant, gros oiseau marin brun, à bec fort, nichant sur les côtes de l Antarctique, se nourrissant de cadavres de manchots. ⇒OSSIFRAGE, subst. masc. ORNITH. Oiseau… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Ossifrage — Os si*frage, n. [L. ossifraga, ossifragus, osprey, fr. ossifragus bone breaking; os, ossis, a bone + frangere, fractum, to break. See {Osseous}, {Break}, and cf. {Osprey}, {Ossifragous}.] (Zo[ o]l.) (a) The lammergeir. (b) The young of the sea… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ossifrage — sea eagle, osprey, c.1600, from L. ossifraga vulture, fem. of ossifragus, lit. bone breaker, from ossifragus (adj.) bone breaking, from os (gen. ossis) bone + stem of frangere to break (see FRACTION (Cf. fraction)). By this name Pliny mean …   Etymology dictionary

  • ossifrage — [äs′ə frij] n. [L ossifraga,OSPREY] Archaic 1. LAMMERGEIER 2. OSPREY …   English World dictionary

  • ossifrage — Lammergeir Lam mer*geir (l[a^]m m[ e]r*g[imac]r), Lammergeier Lam mer*gei er, lammergeyer lam mer*gey er (l[a^]m m[ e]r*g[imac] [ e]r), n. [G. l[ a]mmergeier; lamm, pl. l[ a]mmer, lamb + geier vulture.] (Zo[ o]l.) A very large vulture ({Gypa[… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ossifrage — Lammergeir Lam mer*geir (l[a^]m m[ e]r*g[imac]r), Lammergeier Lam mer*gei er, lammergeyer lam mer*gey er (l[a^]m m[ e]r*g[imac] [ e]r), n. [G. l[ a]mmergeier; lamm, pl. l[ a]mmer, lamb + geier vulture.] (Zo[ o]l.) A very large vulture ({Gypa[… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ossifrage — noun Etymology: Latin ossifraga, a bird of prey, from feminine of ossifragus bone breaking, from oss , os + frangere to break more at break Date: 1601 lammergeier …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • ossifrage — /os euh frij/, n. 1. the lammergeier. 2. Archaic. the osprey. [1595 1605; < L ossifraga sea eagle, lit., bone breaker (n. use of fem. of ossifragus bone breaking), equiv. to ossi (comb. form of os) bone + frag , var. s. of frangere to BREAK + a… …   Universalium

  • ossifrage — os·si·frage …   English syllables

  • ossifrage — os•si•frage [[t]ˈɒs ə frɪdʒ[/t]] n. orn lammergeier • Etymology: 1595–1605; < L ossifraga sea eagle, lit., bone breaker …   From formal English to slang

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