Library / English Dictionary

MERLIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Small falcon of Europe and America having dark plumage with black-barred tail; used in falconry

Synonyms:

Falco columbarius; merlin; pigeon hawk

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("merlin" is a kind of...):

falcon (diurnal birds of prey having long pointed powerful wings adapted for swift flight)

Holonyms ("merlin" is a member of...):

Falco; genus Falco (a genus of Falconidae)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(Arthurian legend) the magician who acted as King Arthur's advisor

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Instance hypernyms:

character; fictional character; fictitious character (an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story))

Domain category:

Arthurian legend (the legend of King Arthur and his court at Camelot)

Credits

 Context examples: 

It has been the use at the 'Pied Merlin' this many a year back that the company should drink to the health of the last comer.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mutant merlin proteins alter cell adhesion, causing cells to detach from the substratum, a possible step in the pathogenesis of NF2.

(Merlin, NCI Thesaurus)

Merlin Burrows, which calls itself a land and sea search company specializing in finding forgotten or hidden things, is poised to release a documentary about what it says may finally be proof that Atlantis was real.

(Researchers Claim to Have Found Mythical City of Atlantis in Spain, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Aye, this is indeed a pied merlin, and with a leveret under its claws, as I am a living woman.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“It was a good hostel, that of the 'Pied Merlin,'” he remarked.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now, young man, what manner of a bird would you suppose a pied merlin to be—that being the proper sign of my hostel?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Why, said Alleyne, a merlin is a bird of the same form as an eagle or a falcon.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For many years he drank his ale every night at the “Pied Merlin,” which was now kept by his friend Aylward, who had wedded the good widow to whom he had committed his plunder.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Both the foresters and the laborers had risen from their bench, and Dame Eliza and the travelling doctor had flung themselves between the two parties with soft words and soothing gestures, when the door of the Pied Merlin was flung violently open, and the attention of the company was drawn from their own quarrel to the new-comer who had burst so unceremoniously upon them.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Alleyne, weary with the unwonted excitements of the day, was soon in a deep slumber broken only by fleeting visions of twittering legs, cursing beggars, black robbers, and the many strange folk whom he had met at the Pied Merlin.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)