The Collaborative International Dictionary
Kestrel \Kes"trel\ (k[e^]s"tr[e^]l), n. [See Castrel.] (Zo["o]l.) A small, slender European hawk ( Falco alaudarius), allied to the sparrow hawk. Its color is reddish fawn, streaked and spotted with white and black. Also called windhover and stannel. The name is also applied to other allied species.
Note: This word is often used in contempt, as of a mean kind
of hawk. ``Kites and kestrels have a resemblance with
hawks.''
--Bacon.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. (context UK English) The common kestrel.
Wikipedia
Windhover may refer to:
- Common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
- " The Windhover", a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins
- Saro Windhover, an amphibious aircraft
- USS Windhover (ASR-18), a planned ship that was cancelled in 1945
- Windhover (clipper ship), a tea clipper built in 1868
Usage examples of "windhover".
You may have noticed my own fine stallion, Windhover, a beast of high spirits that I love like a child.
Only a few grooms were still about the building where Windhover was stalled, the animals having been settled for the night some time ago.
The windhover skated across the tundra ground-blizzards with full tanks, barely rocking in the gusts.
The four of themTanzin had been waiting for Holt and Morgan the moment the windhover set downsat in straightbacked, unpadded chairs around a bare desk.
The windhovers rode the sun and wind like so many bird-shaped kites on leading strings, floating high above the hills.
The four of themTanzin had been waiting for Holt and Morgan the moment the windhover set downsat in straightbacked, unpadded chairs around a bare desk.