Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Buzzard

Buz′zard (bŭz′zẽrd), n. [O.E. busard, bosard, F. busard, fr. buse, L. buteo, a kind of falcon or hawk.]

1. (Zoöl.) A bird of prey of the Hawk family, belonging to the genus Buteo and related genera.

☞ The Buteo vulgaris is the common buzzard of Europe. The American species (of which the most common are B. borealis, B. Pennsylvanicus, and B. lineatus) are usually called hen hawks. — The rough-legged buzzard, or bee hawk, of Europe (Pernis apivorus) feeds on bees and their larvæ, with other insects, and reptiles. — The moor buzzard of Europe is Circus æruginosus. See Turkey buzzard, and Carrion buzzard.

Bald buzzard, the fishhawk or osprey. See Fishhawk.

2. A blockhead; a dunce.

It is common, to a proverb, to call one who can not be taught, or who continues obstinately ignorant, a buzzard. Goldsmith.

Buz′zard, a. Senseless; stupid. [R. & Obs.] Milton.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.