Dictionary

tercel gentle en · NOUN

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin tertius (“third”) (for complete etymology, see tercel) + gentle (in the archaic sense of "well-born, noble"), ultimately from Latin gens (“[Roman] clan”) (for complete etymology, see gentle)

Meanings

1. A male falcon.
   • Marry, out upon thee, foul kite, that would fain be a tercel gentle. 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter 4, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC:
   • O for a Falkners voice, / To lure this Tassell gentle backe againe [...]. c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
   • Like as a fearefull Dove, which through the raine / Of the wide ayre her way does cut amaine, / Having farre off espyde a Tassell gent, / Which after her his nimble winges doth straine, / Doubleth her hast for feare to bee for-hent [...]. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Forms

Translations (5)

pl maiż (male falcon) · pl maisz (male falcon) · it terzolo (male falcon) · it terzuolo (male falcon) · pl maiz (male falcon)