Gyr"fal`con (?), n. [OE. gerfaucon, OF. gerfaucon, LL. gyrofalco, perh. fr. L. gyrus circle + falco falcon, and named from its circling flight; or cf. E. gier-eagle. See Gyre, n., Falcon.] Zool.
One of several species and varieties of large Arctic falcons, esp. Falco rusticolus and the white species F. Islandicus, both of which are circumpolar. The black and the gray are varieties of the former. See Illust. of Accipiter.
[Written also
gerfalcon,
gierfalcon, and
jerfalcon.]
© Webster 1913.