How has falconry changed the English language?

Phrases from the language of Falconry are not something found in the everyday casual discussion of the general population.

However, many Idioms from falconry have ended up in the English language that is now used to describe behaviours of humans rather than birds.

All of this could come from the fact that Shakespeare used a few Falconry terms in his works, which might surprise a few.

One such term is ‘fed up’ meaning a bird that has eaten so much, so it refuses to hunt anymore. This has morphed into a phrase that describes a human being indifferent or uninterested about something that at one time did have their attention.

Another term is ‘gorge’, this in falconry means when a bird eats and stores food in a part of the neck, as it also refers to the part of the bird’s throat.

Obviously, in human terms, this became a ‘human’ eating more food than is required, ‘gorging’ him or herself. Falconry terms are more abundant, and we only need to do a quick search online to find some rather amusing conversions from the falconry language to ours.