noun
definition
A small falcon, Falco columbarius, that breeds in northern North America, Europe, and Asia.
synonyms
Examples of merlin in a Sentence
The Merlin is the smallest falcon in the UK.
Merlin (Myrddin), the famous wizard, bard and warrior, perhaps an historical figure, first introduced by Geoffrey of Monmouth, originally called Ambrose from the British leader Ambrosius Aurelianus, under whom he is said to have first served.
The story of Vortigern and Rowena takes its final form in the Historia Britonum; and Merlin makes his first appearance in the prelude to the Arthur legend.
Besides the Historia Britonum Geoffrey is also credited with a Life of Merlin composed in Latin verse.
Merlin's code abolished confiscation, branding and imprisonment for life, and was based chiefly on the penal code drawn up in September 1791.
His Soil, Antoine Francois Eugene Merlin (1778-1854), was a well-known general in the French army, and served through most of Napoleon's campaigns.
The legends of Merlin and Arthur, collected in the Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth (t 1154), passed into French literature, bearing the character which the bishop of St Asaph had stamped upon them.
The undated book on moles and naevi by " Merlin Britannicus, " after the model of `Ali ibn Ragel, is of about the same date.
The Welsh triads know no fewer than three Gwenhwyfars; Giraldus Cambrensis, relating the discovery of the royal tombs at Glastonbury, speaks of the body found as that of Arthur's second wife; the prose Merlin gives Guenevere a bastard half-sister of the same name, who strongly resembles her; and the Lancelot relates how this lady, trading on the likeness, persuaded Arthur that she was the true daughter of Leodegrance, and the queen the bastard interloper.
King Rhydderich gave one to Merlin, and Rimenhild made a similar gift to Child Horn.
Bachiller y Morales, Monografia historica (Habana, 1883), minutely covering the English occupation (the best account) of 1762-1763; Maria de los Mercedes, comtesse de Merlin, La Havana (3 vols., Paris, 1844); and the works cited under Cuba.
Pedro contains the genealogy of Arthur and the adventures of Lear and Merlin.
This was regafded as a miraculous feat brought about by the incantations of the magician Merlin, who caused a great stone circle in Ireland (said to have been previously carried thither out of Africa by giants) to be transported to Salisbury Plain, where, at Merlin's "word of power," all the stones moved into their proper places.
Arthur and Merlin appear with Grantgosier, as he is here spelt, Galemelle (Gargamelle), Gargantua himself, XXII.
In 1860 appeared a singular book, somewhat after the fashion of Ahasverus, entitled Merlin l'enchanteur, in 1862 a Histoire de la campagne de 1815, in 1865 an elaborate book on the French Revolution, in which the author, republican as he was, blamed the acts of the revolutionists unsparingly, and by that means drew down on himself much wrath from more thoroughgoing partisans.
Many pamphlets date from this period, as does La Creation (1870), a third book of the class of Ahasverus and Merlin, but even vaguer, dealing not with history, legend, or philosophy, but with physical science for the most part.
His miscellanies, in some of which his satire made the nearest approach perhaps ever made to the methods of physical force, such as A Meditation upon a Broomstick, and the poems Sid Hamet's Rod, The City Shower, The Windsor Prophecy, The Prediction of Merlin, and The History of Vanbrugh's House, belong to this period.
The Perceval forms the third and concluding section of a group of short romances, the two preceding being the Joseph of Arimathea and the Merlin.
It was subsequently given by Joseph to his brother-inlaw Brons, whose grandson Perceval is destined to be the final winner and guardian of the relic. The Merlin forms the connecting thread between this definitely ecclesiastical romance and the chivalric atmosphere of Arthur's court; and finally, in the Perceval, the hero, son of Alain and grandson to Brons, is warned by Merlin of the quest which awaits him and which he achieves after various adventures.
Among the extreme Left sat Cambon, Couthon, Merlin de Thionville.
The so-called Independents, such as Barras and Merlin of Douai, who were all Jacobins, but had stood aloof from the internal conflicts of the party, hated Royalism as much as ever and desired the continuance of the war which was essential to their power.
The two vacant places in the Directory were filled by Merlin of Douai and Francois of Neufchâteau.
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - Characters refer to "Merlin's Beard" as their exclamation.
The word "merlin" is so strongly associated with the image of the wise and wizened man that to describe something as a Merlin is to conjure the iconic image.
Merlin's powers were extensive, but it was his wise council and clever nature that made him so powerful.
In Geoffrey of Monmouth's tract, De prophetiis Merlini, there is a reference to an ancient prophecy of the enchanter Merlin concerning a virgin ex nemore canuto, and it appears that this nemus canutum had been identified in folk-lore with the oak wood of Domremy.
Such are Konunga-tal, Hugsvinnsmal (a paraphrase of Cato's Distichs), Merlin's Prophecy (paraphrased from Geoffrey of Monmouth by Gunnlaug the monk), Jomsvikinga-drapa (by Bishop Ketil), and the Islendinga-drapa, which has preserved brief notices of several lost sagas concerning Icelandic worthies, with which Gudmundar-drapa, though of the 14th century, may be also placed.
As though shattered by a reverberant echo from the cannon of the Trebbia, the Directory crumbled to pieces, succumbing on the 18th of June 1799 beneath the reprobation showered on Treilhard, Merlin de Douai, and La Rvellire-Lpeaux.
Cypron's dam was Selima by Bethel's Arabian from a mare by Graham's Champion from a daughter of the Darley Arabian and a mare who claims Merlin for her sire, but whose mother's pedigree is unknown.
Picture by Merlin Massara Jack was severely asphyxiated during the last 19 minutes of his birth at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital.
The many other species of bird include chough, corncrake, golden eagle, merlin, buzzard and hen harrier.
The ships have a one spot flight deck with full hangar facilities for a Merlin helicopter.
Other birds of prey include peregrine, goshawk, merlin and barn owl.
Just one Merlin engine would pump out several pounds of lead halides on a sortie to Berlin; almost chemical warfare!
Merlin's marine biologist declared the Powan " A fresh water herring that is pretty unique to Loch Lomond.
For while Jason is not immortal like Merlin, neither is he dead.
You might call me Merlin or Saturn, the wise old lawgiver.
A size 8 hook, Merlin hook link and 10lb mainline helped complete the deed.
In it I used both VLBA and MERLIN observations to study circumstellar masers and did theoretical modeling of both water and oh masers.
Originally posted by merlin i cant see you getting banned from here Merlin?
Other birds of prey may be seen further along the dale - including the very rare merlin.
I even saw a female merlin with buff and brown spots perched in a tree.
The crags and moorland are suitable nesting and feeding areas for a variety of birds, including the peregrine, merlin and red grouse.
For the golfers, Merlin Golf club with its driving range is also nearby.
The green-eyed monster will be in the shape of Peter Taylor's devoted gray parrot, Merlin.
Merlin the African gray parrot has gone missing from his home in Stevenage.
New wing, 4 bladed propeller, streamlined cockpit, modified Merlin II engine using special fuel.
If you are really sharp-eyed you may pick up the strong purposeful flight of a peregrine, or glimpse a merlin dashing by.
The first of these engines with a 2-speed supercharger was the Merlin X. This added significantly to the length of the engine.
At the trees in Merlin Dean we heard a willow warbler, a summer visitor.