eagle Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun any of various large keen-sighted diurnal birds of prey noted for their broad wings and strong soaring flight
    bird of Jove.
  2. noun (golf) a score of two strokes under par on a hole
  3. noun a former gold coin in the United States worth 10 dollars
  4. noun an emblem representing power
    • the Roman eagle
  5. verb shoot two strokes under par
    double birdie.
    • She eagled the hole
  6. verb shoot in two strokes under par

WordNet

Ea"gle noun
Etymology
OE. egle, F. aigle, fr. L. aquila; prob. named from its color, fr. aquilus dark-colored, brown; cf. Lith. aklas blind. Cf. Aquiline.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) 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 ∨ 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.) 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.
    ✍ Some modern nations, as the United States, and France under the Bonapartes, have adopted the eagle as their national emblem. Russia, Austria, and Prussia have for an emblem a double-headed eagle.

Webster 1913