Vulture

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: vul=ture

CIDE DICTIONARY

Vulture, n. [OE. vultur, L. vultur: cf. OF. voltour, F. vautour.].

 Any one of numerous species of rapacious birds belonging to Vultur, Cathartes, Catharista, and various other genera of the family Vulturidæ.  [1913 Webster]
" In most of the species the head and neck are naked or nearly so. They feed chiefly on carrion. The condor, king vulture, turkey buzzard, and black vulture (Catharista atrata) are well known American species. The griffin, lammergeir, and Pharaoh's chicken, or Egyptian vulture, are common Old World vultures."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Vulture, n.
1 any of various large birds of prey of the family Cathartidae or Accipitridae, with the head and neck more or less bare of feathers, feeding chiefly on carrion and reputed to gather with others in anticipation of a death.
2 a rapacious person.

Derivative

vulturine adj. vulturish adj. vulturous adj.

Etymology

ME f. AF vultur, OF voltour etc., f. L vulturius

THESAURUS

Vulture

blackmailer, bloodsucker, extortionist, filch, harpy, heist, hook, leech, lift, pinch, predator, profiteer, racketeer, raptor, shakedown artist, shark, snitch, swipe, vampire

ROGET THESAURUS

Vulture

Severity

N severity, strictness, harshness, rigor, stringency, austerity, inclemency, arrogance, precisianism, arbitrary power, absolutism, despotism, dictatorship, autocracy, tyranny, domineering, oppression, assumption, usurpation, inquisition, reign of terror, martial law, iron heel, iron rule, iron hand, iron sway, tight grasp, brute force, brute strength, coercion, strong hand, tight hand, hard lines, hard measure, tender mercies, sharp practice, pipe-clay, officialism, tyrant, disciplinarian, precisian, martinet, stickler, bashaw, despot, hard master, Draco, oppressor, inquisitor, extortioner, harpy, vulture, accipitres, birds of prey, raptorials, raptors, severe, strict, hard, harsh, dour, rigid, stiff, stern, rigorous, uncompromising, exacting, exigent, exigeant, inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, austere, hard-headed, hard-nosed, hard-shell, relentless, Spartan, Draconian, stringent, strait-laced, searching, unsparing, iron-handed, peremptory, absolute, positive, arbitrary, imperative, coercive, tyrannical, extortionate, grinding, withering, oppressive, inquisitorial, inclement, cruel, haughty, arrogant, precisian, severely, with a high hand, with a strong hand, with a tight hand, with a heavy hand, at the point of the sword, at the point of the bayonet, Delirant reges plectuntur Achivi, manu forti, ogni debole ha sempre il suo tiranno.

Evil doer

N evil doer, evil worker, wrongdoer, mischief-maker, marplot, oppressor, tyrant, destroyer, Vandal, iconoclast, firebrand, incendiary, fire bug, pyromaniac, anarchist, communist, terrorist, savage, brute, ruffian, barbarian, semibarbarian, caitiff, desperado, Apache, hoodlum, hood, plug-ugly, Red Skin, tough, Mohawk, Mo-hock, Mo-hawk, bludgeon man, bully, rough, hooligan, larrikin, dangerous classes, ugly customer, thief, cockatrice, scorpion, hornet, snake, viper, adder, snake in the grass, serpent, cobra, asp, rattlesnake, anaconda, canker-worm, wire-worm, locust, Colorado beetle, alacran, alligator, caymon, crocodile, mosquito, mugger, octopus, torpedo, bane, cutthroat, cannibal, anthropophagus, anthropophagist, bloodsucker, vampire, ogre, ghoul, gorilla, vulture, gyrfalcon, gerfalcon, wild beast, tiger, hyena, butcher, hangman, blood-hound, hell- hound, sleuth-hound, catamount, cougar, jaguar, puma, hag, hellhag, beldam, Jezebel, monster, fiend, devil incarnate, demon in human shape, Frankenstein's monster, harpy, siren, Furies, Eumenides, Hun, Attila, scourge of the human race, faenum habet in cornu.