buzzard

Etymology

From Middle English bosart, from Anglo-Norman buisart, from Old French buison, buson (French buse), possibly from Latin buteō.

noun

1. Any of several Old World birds of prey of the genus Buteo with broad wings and a broad tail.
2. (Canada, US) Any scavenging bird, such as the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus) or the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura).
3. (colloquial, derogatory, slang, often preceded by "old", the "old buzzard") In North America, a curmudgeonly or cantankerous man; an old person; a mean, greedy person.
   Perhaps the crusty old buzzard loved his only child more than anyone had given him credit for all these years — maybe even more than he himself had realized. 1995, LaRee Bryant, Forever, My Love, page 88
4. (archaic) A blockhead; a dunce.
   1640, George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, etc., in The Remains of that Sweet Singer of the Temple George Herbert, London: Pickering, 1841, p. 142, An old man’s shadow is better than a young buzzard’s sword.
   It is common, to a proverb, to call one who can not be taught, or who continues obstinately ignorant, a buzzard. 1774, Oliver Goldsmith, Animated Nature, volume 6, Index
5. (golf) Synonym of double bogey