vulture

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English voltor, also voltur,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman vultur,^{[4][2][5][6][7]} and Old French voltour, also voutre (now vautour),^[5][8][4][9] from Latin vultur, earlier voltur,^[4][2][5] or from its derivative vulturius.^{[10][5][9][7]} The OED explains that the Old French forms, like voltor and avoltojo, come from vulturius, while Anglo-Norman voutre, buitre and abutre come from vultur.^[10] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1189.^[11] The origin of the Latin word is uncertain;^[7] it is perhaps related to vellō (“to pluck, tear”),^{[4][2][12][13][7]} so that Klein and Skeat read it as "the tearer".^[8][14] Etymonline connects it with svelte, and Klein and Merriam-Webster with vulnerable.^[4][8][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large bird of prey that feeds on carrion: about 1374, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde;^[10] Barnhart dates that poem to about 1385, Barnhart finds the form voltor a little earlier, about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The name, first of the Old World birds, was later applied to unrelated New World birds of similar look and habits, such as the condor and the turkey buzzard.^[4][12][13] From 1582 the bird's habit of tearing at its prey gave the figurative sense of something that preys on a person or the mind, especially a consuming passion,^[10] and since 1605, in Ben Jonson's Sejanus, of a greedy, rapacious person.^[10] Johnson (1755) defined the bird by its voracity.^[15] The verb, to tear or devour like a vulture, appears in 1628,^[10][9] and in the 20th century also meant to swoop down with greedy intent.^[9] Since 1985 the noun has been used in finance, chiefly disparagingly and first in the United States, for investment in the assets of companies that are doing badly.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – a large bird of prey that feeds on carrion, in Chaucer.^[10]
• 1582 – something that preys on a person or the mind, such as a tormenting passion.^[10]
• 1605 – a rapacious person, in Ben Jonson's Sejanus.^[10]
• 1628 – verb, to tear like a vulture.^[10]
• 1639 – in astronomy, either of two northern constellations, the falling vulture (the Lyre) and the flying vulture (the Eagle).^[10]
• 1743 – king of the vultures, the king vulture.^[10]
• 1985 – in finance, of investment in failing companies.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of several large birds of prey of Africa, Asia and southern Europe, with a mostly bare head and neck, that feed chiefly on carrion.^[13][12][10]
2. Any of several similar birds of the Americas, such as the condor and the turkey buzzard.^[13][12]
3. A greedy person who preys on others, especially on the weak or the misfortunes of others.^[13][12][10]
4. (finance) As a modifier, of investors or funds that buy the assets of failing companies.^[10]

Verb

1. To seize or devour greedily; to descend on something like a vulture.^[12][9][10]

Word family

• vulturish
• vulturelike
• vulturine
• vulturous
• culture vulture

Related words

• vulnerable
• svelte

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.