The Collaborative International Dictionary
Raptorial \Rap*to"ri*al\ (r[a^]p*t[=o]"r[i^]*al), a. (Zo["o]l.)
Rapacious; living upon prey; -- said especially of certain birds.
Adapted for seizing prey; -- said of the legs, claws, etc., of insects, birds, and other animals.
Of or pertaining to the Raptores. See Illust. (f) of Aves.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"predatory," 1825, from raptor + -ial. Alternative raptatorial "predacious" (1840) is from Latin raptatus, past participle of raptare.
Wiktionary
a. Like or resembling a raptor.
WordNet
adj. relating to or characteristic of birds of prey; "raptorial claws and bill for seizing prey"
living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey; "a predatory bird"; "the rapacious wolf"; "raptorial birds"; "ravening wolves"; "a vulturine taste for offal" [syn: predatory, rapacious, ravening, vulturine, vulturous]
Wikipedia
The term raptorial implies much the same as predatory, but most often refers to modifications of an arthropod's foreleg that make it function for the grasping of prey while it is consumed, where the gripping surfaces are formed from the opposing faces of two successive leg segments (see illustration). This is distinctly different from the grasping mechanism of a structure such as a scorpion's claw (a " chela") in which one of the opposing surfaces is an articulated digit, and not a leg segment. While this is most widely known in mantises, similarly modified legs can be found in some crustaceans (e.g., mantis shrimp), and various insect families, such as Mantispidae, Belostomatidae, Nepidae, and Naucoridae (all members of these groups have raptorial forelegs). There are numerous other lineages within various insect families that have raptorial forelegs, most commonly seen in the family Reduviidae, but also including several different families of flies, and a few thrips.
The term has a slightly more conventional use, as an adjective describing properties of birds of prey and the extinct dromaeosaurs and troodonts ("raptors"); e.g. the talons of an eagle or Velociraptor may be referred to as "raptorial".
Usage examples of "raptorial".
He looked imploringly toward the gryphon and made eye contact with the raptorial gaze at the moment the shreds of the hood were pulled free.
Bralos could ever recall having seen set under a big and raptorial nose had served his guests cups of a powerful cider and questioned them at length in relatively good Ehleenokos spoken with an unusual accent.
But they have made it even larger, and turned it into a raptorial bird, a predator, instead of a scavenger.
He had a nose like the beak of a raptorial bird, an impression his eyes did nothing to relieve.
He thought that Abdul already was beginning to look like a corpsethe dry skin drawn tight over the big bones of the face giving his profile an unmistakable raptorial cast.
Skandranon looked up, with his head lowered at just the right angle to make his brows and eyes appear even more raptorial than usual.
It was not just the wings, the feathered body, the raptorial headit was the costume, the way that closely wrapped fabric fell in particular folds that she remembered, the color of the fabric itself.
Her heart had no more secrets from his, for every wound, every scar, every bruise was laid bare to his raptorial eyes.
Vale in answer to some unspoken call, but small, colorful creatures in feathered harlequin coats of red, blue, green, and yellow, with raptorial hooked bills and an uncanny ability to mimic human voices.
The falcon was hooded, but the raptorial bird was unusually agitated this rise.
The juika-bloth of course had no animosity toward the stranger, but a raptor does not have to gaze very hard at a person to look fearsomely raptorial indeed.
Its taloned feet could have been those of a juika-bloth, and its head resembled that of the Scythian monster called the gryps, for it had a cruel, raptorial, yellow beak and fierce red eyebrows.
I felt quite diminutive and vulnerable under his gaze, rather as I imagine small forest creatures must have felt when, far from the safety of their dens and with no covert nearby in which to shelter, they realized they were being eyed by my raptorial juika-bloth.
Why, then, had I declined to take raptorial advantage of such a wickedly winsome opportunity?
Then the young man tore himself loose from me, as if he had decided that he was in the raptorial grip of a haliuruns hag, and he fled away in shame and terror.