buzzard

plural buzzards

1. Any of several Old World birds of prey of the genus Buteo with broad wings and a broad tail.
2. CanadaUSAny scavenging bird, such as the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus) or the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura).
3. colloquialderogatoryslangoften preceded by "old"; the "old buzzard"; often preceded by "old"; the "old buzzard"In North America, a curmudgeonly or cantankerous man; an old person; a mean, greedy person.

   Perhaps the crusty old buzzard loved his only child more than anyone had given him credit for all these years — maybe even more than he himself had realized.

   1995, LaRee Bryant, Forever, My Love, page 88

4. archaicA blockhead; a dunce.

   1640, George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, etc., in The Remains of that Sweet Singer of the Temple George Herbert, London: Pickering, 1841, p. 142, An old man’s shadow is better than a young buzzard’s sword.

   1 more example

   It is common, to a proverb, to call one who can not be taught, or who continues obstinately ignorant, a buzzard.

   1774, Oliver Goldsmith, Animated Nature, volume 6, Index

5. golfSynonym of double bogey.

   Synonyms: double bogey

6. USWorld War IslanggovernmentA fighter plane.
7. USdatedslanggovernmentThe insignia of a colonel, or a petty officer within the navy.
8. USslanggovernmentA military discharge (due to the military discharge certificate).

plural buzzards

1. euphemisticA bastard.

plural Buzzards

1. A surname from Old French.