merlin

noun

1. A small falcon, Falco columbarius, that breeds in northern North America, Europe, and Asia.

   “The gentle falcon, that with its feet distraineth / The kingës hand; the hardy sperhawke eke, / The quailës foe; the merlion that paineth / Himself full oft the larkë for to seek; [...]”

   “Smaller and less powerful falcons included the merlon, the hobby, and the kesterel.”

2. (uncountable)A cytoskeletal protein active in the suppression of tumors.

name

1. A wizard in the Arthurian legend.

   “I NEXT paſſed into the choir; a ſcene of transformation indeed! I had been accuſtomed to contemplate here a far different order of things. Our profeſſional Merlins have waved their wands to ſome purpoſe; and all view, as their familiars invited me to believe, was to be given up to the momentary glance at an Eidophuſicon ſhew of the Reſurrection filling the Eaſt window in that ſpot late our Lady’s chapel, now the termination of the choir.”

   “It is a game of chemistry and confidence, where players of gold often make teams of lead, and vice versa. Coaches are like Merlins madly mixing metals, searching for “the right combination,” even if it contradicts common sense.”

   “Music, art, entertainment, medicine, and science are being changed before our very eyes by technological Merlins waving silicon wands.”

2. A male given name.
3. A census-designated place in Josephine County, Oregon, United States.