Category:Eagle

Ea"gle, n. Etym: [OE. egle, F. aigle, fr. L. aquila; prob. named from its color, fr. aquilus dark-colored, brown; cf. Lith. aklas blind. Cf. Aquiline.]

1. (Zoöl.)

Defn: Any large, rapacious bird of the Falcon family, esp. of the genera Aquila and Haliæetus. The eagle is remarkable for strength, size, graceful figure, keenness of vision, and extraordinary flight. The most noted species are the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaëtus); the imperial eagle of Europe (A. mogilnik or imperialis); the American bald eagle (Haliæetus leucocephalus); the European sea eagle (H. albicilla); and the great harpy eagle (Thrasaetus harpyia). The figure of the eagle, as the king of birds, is commonly used as an heraldic emblem, and also for standards and emblematic devices. See Bald eagle, Harpy, and Golden eagle.

2. A gold coin of the United States, of the value of ten dollars.

3. (Astron.)

Defn: A northern constellation, containing Altair, a star of the first magnitude. See Aquila.

4. The figure of an eagle borne as an emblem on the standard of the ancient Romans, or so used upon the seal or standard of any people. Though the Roman eagle shadow thee. Tennyson.

Note: Some modern nations, as the United States, and France under the Bonapartes, have adopted the eagle as their national emblem]. [[:Category:Russia|Russia, Austria, and Prussia have for an emblem] a double-headed eagle. Bald eagle. See [[:Category:Bald Eagle|Bald eagle. -- Bold eagle. See under Bold. -- Double eagle, a gold coin of the United States worth twenty dollars. -- Eagle hawk (Zoöl.), a large, crested, South American hawk of the genus Morphnus. -- Eagle owl (Zoöl.), any large owl of the genus Bubo, and allied genera; as the American great horned owl (Bubo Virginianus), and the allied European species (B. maximus). See Horned owl. -- Eagle ray (Zoöl.), any large species of ray of the genus Myliobatis (esp. M. aquila). -- Eagle vulture (Zoöl.), a large West African bird (Gypohierax Angolensis), intermediate, in several respects, between the eagles and vultures.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Eagle - (Heb. nesher ; properly the griffon vulture or great vulture, so called from its tearing its prey with its beak), referred to for its swiftness of flight (Deuteronomy 28:49; 2 Samuel 1:23), its mounting high in the air (Job 39:27), its strength (Psalms 103:5), its setting its nest in high places (Jeremiah 49:16), and its power of vision (Job 39:27). This "ravenous bird" is a symbol of those nations whom God employs and sends forth to do a work of destruction, sweeping away whatever is decaying and putrescent (Matthew 24:28; Isaiah 46:11; Ezekiel 39:4; Deuteronomy 28:49; Jeremiah 4:13; Jeremiah 48:40). It is said that the eagle sheds his feathers in the beginning of spring, and with fresh plumage assumes the appearance of youth. To this, allusion is made in Psalms 103:5 and Isaiah 40:31. God's care over His people is likened to that of the eagle in training its young to fly (Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11, Deuteronomy 32:12). An interesting illustration is thus recorded by Sir Humphry Davy: "I once saw a very interesting sight above the crags of Ben Nevis. Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring, two young birds, the maneuvers of flight. They began by rising from the top of the mountain in the eye of the sun. It was about midday, and bright for the climate. They at first made small circles, and the young birds imitated them. They paused on their wings, waiting till they had made their flight, and then took a second and larger gyration, always rising toward the sun, and enlarging their circle of flight so as to make a gradually ascending spiral. The young ones still and slowly followed, apparently flying better as they mounted; and they continued this sublime exercise, always rising till they became mere points in the air, and the young ones were lost, and afterwards their parents, to our aching sight." (See Isaiah 40:31.) There have been observed in Palestine four distinct species of eagles, (1.) the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos);  (2.) the spotted eagle (Aquila naevia);  (3.) the common species, the imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca); and  (4.) the Circaetos gallicus, which preys on reptiles. The eagle was unclean by the Levitical law (Leviticus 11:13; Deuteronomy 14:12).

Saint John the Evangelist's symbol is the eagle.