peregrine
peregrine Lexical Profile
peregrine Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A powerful, cosmopolitan bird of prey (Falco peregrinus) of the family Falconidae, having slate-blue upperparts, barred underparts, and dark facial markings, renowned for its high-speed hunting stoop.
"We watched a peregrine nesting on the high ledge of the city skyscraper."
• adjective
Wandering, traveling, or migrating from place to place; having a nomadic or itinerant character.
"The poet led a peregrine existence across Europe, never staying in one city for more than a few months."
Coming from abroad; foreign, alien, or exotic in origin.
"The botanical garden features several peregrine plant species introduced by nineteenth-century explorers."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Latin peregrinus ('foreign, traveling abroad'), from peregre ('abroad'), formed from per- ('beyond') and ager ('field, territory'). The falcon was so named because falconers caught fully grown migrating birds rather than taking chicks from the nest.