different between vulture vs hummingbird

English

Etymology

Borrowed into Middle English from Anglo-Norman vultur, from Old French voutoir, voutre, from Latin vultur, voltur.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?v?lt??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?v?lt??/

Noun

vulture (plural vultures)

1. Any of several carrion-eating birds of the families Accipitridae and Cathartidae.
2. (figuratively, colloquial) A person who profits from the suffering of others.

   Synonyms: ambulance chaser, vampire

Derived terms

• Egyptian vulture
• griffon vulture
• turkey vulture
• vulturelike
• vulturine
• vulturish
• vulturous

Translations

Verb

vulture (third-person singular simple present vultures, present participle vulturing, simple past and past participle vultured)

1. (figuratively, colloquial) To circle around one's target as if one were a vulture.

Adjective

vulture

1. (obsolete) ravenous; rapacious

Further reading

• vulture on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Noun

vulture

1. ablative singular of vultur

English

Alternative forms

• humming bird, humming-bird

Etymology

From humming (noun) +? bird, in reference to the humming sound made by the rapidly moving wings.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?h?m???b?d/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?h?m???b??d/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /?h?m?n?b??d/

Noun

hummingbird (plural hummingbirds)

1. Any of various small American birds in the family Trochilidae that have the ability to hover.
   • 1857 Thoreau, Henry David, journal entry, May 29, 1857. From Thoreau on Birds: notes on New England birds from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau, Boston: Beacon Press, 1993, p238. (Originally published as the anthology Thoreau's bird-lore, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1910, edited by Francis H. Allen.)

     Soon I hear the low all-pervading hum of an approaching hummingbird circling above the rock, [...]

Related terms

Translations

See also

• snowcap