Dictionary-Definition.com :: Vulture definition

Definition of 'vulture'

noun

Any of various large diurnal birds of prey having naked heads and weak claws and feeding chiefly on carrion

noun

Someone who attacks in search of booty [syn: marauder, predator, vulture, piranha]

From: GCIDE

Vulture \Vul"ture\ (?; 135), n. [OE. vultur, L. vultur: cf. OF. voltour, F. vautour.] (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of rapacious birds belonging to Vultur, Cathartes, Catharista, and various other genera of the family Vulturidae. [1913 Webster]
Note: 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]

Vulture
Heb. da'ah (Lev. 11:14). In the parallel passage (Deut. 14:13) the Hebrew word used is _ra'ah_, rendered "glede;" LXX., "gups;" Vulg., "milvus." A species of ravenous bird, distinguished for its rapid flight. "When used without the epithet 'red,' the name is commonly confined to the black kite. The habits of the bird bear out the allusion in Isa. 34:15, for it is, excepting during the winter three months, so numerous everywhere in Palestine as to be almost gregarious." (See EAGLE.)
In Job 28:7 the Heb. 'ayyah is thus rendered. The word denotes a clamorous and a keen-sighted bird of prey. In Lev. 11:14 and Deut. 14:13 it is rendered "kite" (q.v.).