Ossifrage

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ossifrage. (The Bone-Breaker). The Hebrew word occurs, as the name of an unclean bird, in  Leviticus 11:13 and  Deuteronomy 14:12. It is probably the Lammergeyer ( Gypaetus barbatus ), or bearded vulture, as it is sometimes called, one of the largest of the birds of prey.

It well deserves its name ossifrage , Bone Breaker , for, "not only does he push kids and lambs, and even men off the rocks, but he takes the bones of animals, that other birds of prey have denuded of the flesh, high up into the air, and lets them fall upon a stone in order to crack them, and render them more digestible, even for his enormous powers of deglutition. Marrow-bones are the dainties he loves. This is probably the bird that dropped a tortoise on the bald head of poor old Aeschylus." - N. H. Simpson.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

פרס ,  Leviticus 11:13;  Deuteronomy 14:12 . Interpreters are not agreed on this bird; some read "vulture," others "the black eagle," others "the falcon." The name peres, by which it is called in Hebrew, denotes "to crush, to break;" and this name agrees with our version, which implies "the bone-breaker," which name is given to a kind of eagle, from the circumstance of its habit of breaking the bones of its prey, after it has eaten the flesh: some say also, that he even swallows the bones thus broken. Onkelos uses a word which signifies "naked," and leads us to the vulture: indeed, if we were to take the classes of birds in any thing like a natural order in the passages here referred to, the vulture should follow the eagle as an unclean bird. The Septuagint interpreter also renders vulture; and so do Munster. Schindler, and the Zurick versions.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Ossifrage ( peres = ‘the breaker,’   Leviticus 11:13 ,   Deuteronomy 14:12 , RV [Note: Revised Version.] gier eagle ). This is the Lämmergeier ( Gypaetus barbatus ), a great bird with a spread of ten feet across, distinguished from the true vultures by its neck being covered by dirty-white feathers. It occurs in the ravines around the Dead Sea, but is apparently gradually becoming extinct in Palestine. The Heb. peres and Latin ossifragus are both due to its habit of carrying large bones, tortoises, etc., to a great height and then dropping them upon the ground in order that it may get access to the soft contents.

E. W. G. Masterman.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

The Hebrew is peres, which signifies 'breaking,' and ossifrage signifies 'bone breaker.' This has led to the identifying the bird with the one now known as the Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus), which is a species of vulture, though it has the appearance of an eagle its neck being covered with feathers. It attacks a carcase when the vultures have finished: picks the bones, and then breaks them to feed upon the marrow. It does this by carrying them up to a height and letting them fall upon a stone or rock till they break. The shells of tortoises are broken in the same way by them. In the Levitical economy it was an unclean bird.  Leviticus 11:13;  Deuteronomy 14:12 .

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

(See Ospray Osprey The most powerful bird of prey in our hemisphere. He pushes kids, lambs, hares, calves, and even men off the rocks, and takes the bones of animals high up in the air, and lets them fall on stones to crack them and render them more digestible. The vulture proper has a bald head and neck, a provision against the dirting of the feathers of birds which plunge the head into putrefying carcasses. But the ossifrage has its head and neck feathered and a beard of black hair under the beak. The plumage of the head and neck is dirty white, with a black stripe through the eye; the back, wings, and tail are brown, the parts underneath are fawn-colored.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Bone-breaker; in Hebrew Peries, to break; an unclean bird of the eagle family,  Leviticus 11:13   Deuteronomy 14:12 . Some interpreters think the vulture is intended; others, a mountain bird like the lammergeyer of the Alps, which breaks the bones of wild goats by hunting them over precipices.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Ossifrage ( Os'Si-Frage ), Bone-Breaker.  Leviticus 11:13; the "gier-eagle," R. V.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) The young of the sea eagle or bald eagle.

(2): ( n.) The lammergeir.

King James Dictionary

OS'SIFRAGE, n. L. ossifraga. See Ospray.

The ospray or sea-eagle. In  Leviticus 11:13 , it denotes a different fowl.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Leviticus 11:13 Deuteronomy 14:12

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Leviticus 11:13 Deuteronomy 14:12

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Fig. 282—Gypaetos barbatus

Ossifrage, a bird of prey, which is supposed to be identical with the griffon of Cuvier, the Gypaëtos barbatus of nomenclators. The species in Europe is little if at all inferior in size to the Condor of South America, measuring from the point of the bill to the end of the tail four feet two or three inches, and sometimes ten feet in the expanse of wing; the head and neck are not, like those of vultures, naked, but covered with whitish narrow feathers; and there is a beard of bristly hair under the lower mandible: the rest of the plumage is nearly black and brown, with some whitish streaks on the shoulders, and an abundance of pale rust-color on the back of the neck, the thighs, vent, and legs; the toes are short and bluish, and the claws strong. In the young the head and neck are black, and the species or variety of Abyssinia appears to be rusty and yellowish on the neck and stomach.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

os´i - frā́j ( פרס , pereṣ  ; γύψ , gúps  ; Lat Ossifraga ): The great bearded vulture known as the lammer-geier (  Leviticus 11:13;  Deuteronomy 14:12 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "gier-eagle"). The Hebrew name pereṣ means "to break." Lat ossis , "bone," and frangere , "to break," indicate the most noticeable habit of the bird. It is the largest of the vulture family, being 3 1/2 ft. in length and 10 in sweep. It has a white head, black beard on the chin, and the part of the eye commonly called the "white" in most animals, which is visible in but few birds, in this family is pronounced and of a deep angry red, thus giving the bird a formidable appearance. The back is grayish black, the feathers finely penciled, the shaft being white, the median line tawny. The under parts are tawny white and the feet and talons powerful. It differs from the vulture in that it is not a consistent carrion feeder, but prefers to take prey of the size captured by some of the largest eagles. It took its name from the fact that after smaller vultures and eagles had stripped a carcass to the last shred of muscle, the lammergeier then carried the skeleton aloft and dropped it repeatedly until the marrow from the broken bones could be eaten. It is also very fond of tortoise, the meat of which it secures in the same manner. As this bird frequents Southern Europe, it is thought to be the one that mistook the bald head of Aeschylus, the poet, for a stone and let fall on it the tortoise that caused his death. This bird also attacks living prey of the size of lambs, kids and hares. It is not numerous and does not flock, but pairs live in deep gorges and rocky crevices. It builds an enormous nest, deposits one pinkish or yellowish egg, and the young is black. It requires two years to develop the red eyes, finely penciled plumage and white head of the adult bird. It was included among the abominations because of its diet of carrion.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Ossifrage'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/o/ossifrage.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.