osprey

From Late Middle English ospray, from Anglo-Norman ospriet, from Medieval Latin avis prede (“bird of prey”), a generic term apparently confused with this specific bird in Old French on its similarity to ossifrage.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑspɹi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒspɹeɪ/

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osprey (plural ospreys)

1. A bird of prey (Pandion haliaetus) that feeds on fish and has white underparts and long, narrow wings each ending in four finger-like extensions.
   • 1594, George Peele (attributed), The Battle of Alcazar

     I will provide thee of a princely osprey.

   • 1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Waterson;  […], published 1634, →OCLC, (please specify the page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     But (oh Jove!) your actions, / Soon as they move, as ospreys do the fish, / Subdue before they touch.

   • 2023 August 24, Mairead Sheehy, “'Like finding long-lost treasure': Ospreys breed in Ireland for first time in 200 years”, in Irish Examiner‎:

     A pair of ospreys bred at a confidential nesting site in Co. Fermanagh in what has been described as like finding long-lost treasure.

2. Aigrette (ornamental feather).

• fish eagle (a misnomer as the osprey is not an eagle, but compare some of the translations below)
• fish hawk (a misnomer as the osprey is not a hawk)
• orfray (obsolete)
• ossifrage (from Latin "bone-breaker")
• osspringer (obsolete)

• Poyers