gyrkinn.
/ˈdʒəːkɪn/, U.S. /ˈdʒərkən/ Falconry. Now rare.
The male of the gyrfalcon, Falco rusticolus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Falconiformes (falcons, etc.) > [noun] > family Falconidae > genus Falco (falcon) > falco rusticolus (gyrfalcon)
gyrfalconc1330
gyrkin1539
Iceland falcon1758
Icelander1777
Greenland falcon1784
Labrador falcon1839
1539 Act 31 Henry VIII c. 12 §3 in Statutes of Realm (1963) III. 731 Any suche faucon jerfaucon jerken sacre or sacret.
c1600 A. Montgomerie Poems (2000) I. 41 Thair wes a gentle girking gay.
1616 G. Markham tr. C. Estienne et al. Maison Rustique (rev. ed.) vii. xliv. 713 The male to the Gerfaulcon is that which is called the Ierkin, being a much lesse bird.
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. I. at Jerkin A kind of hawk. Ainsworth. This should be written gyrkin.
1773 J. Campbell Treat. Mod. Faulconry iv. 133 I propose to treat only of those which the sportsmen use in this island. These are the faulcon and tercel-gentle, the goshawk and tercel, the gyrfaulcon and jerkin.
1840 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 13 June 163/1 The male of the ger-falcon was called the jerkin, of the falcon proper the tierce gentle.
1986 P. H. Glasier Falconry & Hawking (ed. 2) i. 23 I have been unable to import a mate for my jerkin.
1997 A. Kirwan Juliet iii. 28 It's a passager gyrkin, some two years of age, and well into its molt.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1539