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tercel - 4 dictionary results

ter⋅cel

  [tur-suhl]
Use tercel in a Sentence
–noun Falconry.
the male of a hawk, esp. of a gyrfalcon or peregrine.
Also, terce⋅let  [turs-lit] , tiercel.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME < MF terçuel < VL *tertiolus, equiv. to L terti(us) third + -olus -ole 1 ; prob. so called because the male is about one third smaller than the female
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ter·cel   (tûr'səl)   
n.  A male hawk used in falconry.

[Middle English, from Old French terçuel, from Vulgar Latin *tertiōlus, diminutive of Latin tertius, third; see trei- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Tercel

Ter"cel\, n. See Tiercel. Called also tarsel, tassel. --Chaucer.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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tercel 
"male falcon," c.1381, from O.Fr. tercel (c.1200), from M.L. tertiolus, from L. tertius "third." Various theories as to why it is called this; one says it's because the males are a third smaller than the females, another because a third egg in the nest (smaller than the other two) is believed always to produce a male bird.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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