buzzard

noun

1. Any of several Old World birds of prey of the genus Buteo with broad wings and a broad tail.
2. (Canada, US)Any scavenging bird, such as the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus) or the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura).
3. (colloquial, derogatory, slang)In North America, a curmudgeonly or cantankerous man; an old person; a mean, greedy person.

   “Perhaps the crusty old buzzard loved his only child more than anyone had given him credit for all these years — maybe even more than he himself had realized.”

4. (archaic)A blockhead; a dunce.

   “1640, George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, etc., in The Remains of that Sweet Singer of the Temple George Herbert, London: Pickering, 1841, p. 142, An old man’s shadow is better than a young buzzard’s sword.”

   “It is common, to a proverb, to call one who can not be taught, or who continues obstinately ignorant, a buzzard.”

5. Synonym of double bogey.
6. (US, World-War-I, slang)A fighter plane.
7. (US, dated, slang)The insignia of a colonel, or a petty officer within the navy.
8. (US, slang)A military discharge (due to the military discharge certificate).
9. (euphemistic)A bastard.

name

1. A surname from Old French.