falconish

comparative more falconish · superlative most falconish

1. Like a falcon.

   The visage of the secretary bird is falconish in the extreme ; if possible, more so than that of the actual bird it is compared to.

   1886, Parker Gillmore, The Hunter's Arcadia, page 45

   3 more examples

   A wholly obscure contest, as was natural ; wherein, however, to all candid eyes the vulturous and falconish character of our Isle fully asserts itself; and the foreign Quack of Quacks, with all his thaumaturgic Hemp-silks, Lottery-numbers, Beauty-waters, Seductions, Phosphorus-boxes, and Wines of Egypt, is seen matched, and nigh throttled, by the natural unassisted cunning of English Attorneys.

   1897, Thomas Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays

   If I tell you he had bronzed curly hair and a falconish sort of face, bronzed by the sea also, it's not for his sake, I assure you, but for the story; for it was the cause of a very curious coincidence.

   1914, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, The Wisdom of Father Brown

   A quick count told him that they had lost more than half of their force and as he watched, the Comanche chief's falconish face lost none of its icy pride as he stared back defiantly at the wagons.

   2000, Jon Sharpe, Aztec Gold, page 184