talon
noun/ˈtælən/
Etymology From Middle English talon, taloun, from Old French talon (“heel, spur”), from Medieval Latin tālōnem, from Proto-Romance *tālōnis, from Latin tālus (“ankle”).
1
A sharp, hooked claw of a bird of prey or other predatory animal.
- and now doth gaſtly death With greedie talients gripe my bleeding hart, And like a Harpye tires on my life.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:
- It may be tried also whether birds may not have something done to them when they are young , whereby they may be made to have greater or longer bills , or greater and longer talons ?1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “VIII. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
3
Architecture A kind of moulding, concave at the bottom and convex at the top; an ogee. (When the concave part is at the top, it is called an inverted talon.)
4
The shoulder of the bolt of a lock on which the key acts to shoot the bolt.
- The locks were constructed with two or three levers, and sometimes with a common tumbler. The talon is the secret; for after locking the bolt out, the key is turned round again quietly to catch the nib and force the talon up1856, George Price, A Treatise on Fire and Thief-proof Depositories, and Locks:
5
Card games, Games The remaining stock of undealt cards.
6
Business, Finance Historical A document that could be detached and presented in exchange for a block of further coupons on a bond, when the original block had been used up.
- Synonyms
- fang
- Related terms
- Coed-talon