FAL'CON, n. Sometimes pron. fawcon. [L. falco, a hawk. The falcon is probably so named from its curving beak or talons.] 1. A hawk; but appropriately, a hawk trained to sport, as in falconry, which see. It is said that this name is, by sportsmen, given to the female alone; for the male is smaller, weaker and less courageous, and is therefore called tircelet or tarsel.This term, in ornithology, is applied to a division of the genus Falco, with a short hooked beak and very long wings, the strongest armed and most courageous species, and therefore used in falconry.2. A sort of cannon, whose diameter at the bore is five inches and a quarter, and carrying shot of two pounds and a half.
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