Forms: α. 4–5 taloun(e, 5 -owne, 5–7 tallon, 7 tal(l)en, pl. tallance, 5– talon. β. 5–6 talente, talaunt(e, tala(u)nde, 5–7 talland, 6 tallaunt(e, 6–7 talant(e, tallent, 6–7 (9 dial.) tallant, 6–8 (9 dial.) talent. [ME. a. OF. talon heel of a man, or of a shoe, hinder part of the foot of a quadruped = Pr. talo, Sp. talon, Pg. talão, It. talone heel, heel-piece:—late pop. L. or Com. Romanic tālo, tālōn-em heel, deriv. form of tālus ankle. With the β forms talant, talent, cf. ancient, margent, parchment, peasant, tyrant, etc.: see -ANT3. The sense-development shows the stages: ankle; heel of man (of a shoe, etc.); heel or hinder part of the foot of a beast; hinder claw of a bird of prey; any claw (usually in pl. the claws) of a bird, a dragon, an ungulate beast, an insect, etc. The extension to a bird of prey, and subsequent stages, are peculiar to English.]
I. † 1. The ‘heel’ or hinder part of the foot of certain quadrupeds, as swine and deer, or of the hoof of a horse. Obs.
c. 1410. Master of Game (MS. Digby 182), xxiv. A gret boore shall haue longe traces and þe clees rounde before and brode sooles of þe feete and a good talowne and longe bones.
1611. Cotgr., Argot,… the deaw-clawe of a dog, &c.; the heele, or talon of a hog.
1639. T. de Gray, Expert Farrier, II. xvii. 298. [The Quitter-bone] causeth a hard round swelling upon the cronet of the hoofe, betwixt the heele and the quarter of the long talent.
[1688, 1725: cf. talon-nail in 5.]
† b. The hallux or hinder claw of a bird. Obs.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, a viij. The grete Clees [of a hawk] behynde … ye shall call hom Talons.
1530. Palsgr., 279/1. Talant of a byrde the hynder-clawe, talon, argot.
1552. Huloet, Talent or clawe of a hawke, vngula.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. (1586), 157 b. Let therefore your Henne be of a good colour, hauing … her tallons euen. Ibid., 158. Your Cockes … of colours, as I tolde you for the Hennes, and the like number of tallons.
2. pl. The claws (or less usually in sing. any claw) of a bird or beast. a. spec. The powerful claws of a bird of prey, or of a dragon, griffin, etc.
α. a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 800. The dragone … Towchez hym wyth his talounez, and terez hys rigge.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xxvi. 269. [The Griffon] hath his talouns so longe and so grete as þough þei weren hornes of grete oxen.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, 250. Lubin … understands not how the pygmie should be snatch’d-up by the crane … in his crooked talens, when as the crane’s talents are not crooked.
1671. Milton, P. R., II. 403. With sound of Harpies wings, and Talons heard.
1727. Swift, Gulliver, II. v. A kite … would have certainly carried me away in his talons.
1884. Pae, Eustace, 137. We must see and take the Falcon from the talons of the French eagle.
β. 1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), II. 369. Bryddes hauenge wynges and talandes. Ibid., VIII. 37. Thre [young eagles] … did bete the egle with theire talauntes and wynges.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel., xxviii. (1535), 47 b. He sawe two kytes ioninge to gyther with their talantes.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 20. The Harpies haue Virgins faces, and vultures Talentes.
1635. R. Johnson, Hist. Tom a Lincolne (1828), 104. The nailes of his fingers were as the tallents of eagles.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), IV. 151. What would become of my … dove, within the talents of such a vulture?
1893. Salisbury, S. E. Worc. Gloss., Local Pronunc., Talents, talons.
b. The claws (or in sing. any claw) of a wild beast, of an insect, etc.
α. a. 1591. H. Smith, Jonah’s Punishm., II. (1602), B viij. Like Lions, which will be gentle vntill their tallons grow.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 5. The other four legs are cloven and arm’d with little clea’s or tallons (like a Catamount).
a. 1667. Cowley, Sylva, Ret. out of Scotl. Let spotted Lynces their sharp Talons fill, With Chrystal fetch’d from the Promethean Hill.
1873. Holland, A. Bonnic., xi. 184. Sheathed within the foot of velvet was hidden a talon of steel.
β. 1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 83. Men hauenge hedes lyke dogges, whiche be callede Cynocephali,… y-armede with teithe and talaundes, lyffenge by hawkenge and huntenge.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. x. 10. The talantes and teethe of the Lyon.
1628. Gaule, Pract. The. Panegyr., 47. It sufficeth, that wee discerne this Lyon, by his Talent.
c. Allusively applied to the grasping fingers or hands of human beings. (Cf. CLAW.)
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. ii. 64. If a talent be a claw, looke how he clawes him with a talent.
1594. ? Greene, Selimus, Wks. (Grosart), XIV. 264. I can scarce keep her talents from my eies.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, III. 142. They haue … neither kniues or spoones but only their ten talons.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xviii. An I had ye amang the Frigate Whins, wadna I set my ten talents in your wuzzent face for that very word?
1860. Hawthorne, Marb. Faun, xvi. Still he washed his brown, bony talons.
d. fig.
1586. Marlowe, 1st Pt. Tamburl., II. vii. Now doth ghastly Death With greedy talents gripe my bleeding heart.
1600. Surflet, Countrie Farme, III. xxxiv. 497. The oliue tree being once seased in his tallance of a good peece of ground, contenteth it selfe.
1748. Johnson, Van. Hum. Wishes, 168. Rebellion’s vengeful talons. Ibid. (1751), Rambler, No. 113 ¶ 7. Nothing should have torn me from her but the talons of necessity.
1774. Burke, Corr. (1844), I. 451. That they may yet be able to save something from the talons of despotism.
1850. Whittier, Samuel Hopkins, in Old Portraits, etc., 146–7. The press groaned under large volumes of theological, metaphysical, and psychological disquisition, the very thought of which is now ‘a weariness to the flesh’; in rapid succession pamphlet encountered pamphlet, horned, beaked, and sharp of talon, grappling with each other in mid air, like Milton’s angels.
II. 3. transf. A heel-like part or object. [In a, b, c = F. talon.] a. Naut. The curved back of a ship’s rudder. ? Obs. b. Arch. An ogee molding: = OGEE 2. c. The ‘heel’ of a blade, as of a sword. d. A part of the shell of a bivalve; cf. HEEL sb.1 7 h. e. The projection on the bolt of a lock against which the key presses (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1877). f. (See quot.)
a. 1485–6. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 14. For a pece of tymbre … spent in makyng of a talland for the same Rother.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Tallant, the upper hance, or break of the rudder abaft.
b. 1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. s.v., The Talon consists of two Portions of a Circle, one without, and the other within; and when the Concave Part is uppermost, it is called Reversed Talon.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, xii. 172. That ornamental member called by the architects ‘cyma recta,’ or talon.
1810. Rudim. Anc. Archit. (1821), 41. The ovolo and talon are always employed as supporters to the essential members of the composition, such as the modillions, denteles, and corona.
1842–76. Gwilt, Archit. Gloss., Talon, the name given by the French to the ogee.
c. 1854. Woodward, Mollusca, II. 276. Umbones elongated, progressively filled up with shell, and forming an irregular ‘talon’ in front of the fixed valve.
d. 1869. Boutell, Arms & Arm., ix. (1874), 180. From the talon, or heel of the blade, on the opposite side, is a hollow indent, intended to hold the thumb.
f. 1898. Syd. Soc. Lex., Talon, a heel or low cusp of a tooth.
4. fig. a. Cards. The remainder of the pack after the hands have been dealt. Cent. Dict., 1891.
b. Comm. See quot. 1882. (So both in Fr.)
1882. Bithell, Counting-Ho. Dict. (1893), s.v., A Talon, as most commonly known in commerce, is the last portion of a sheet of coupons…, and contains on its face an intimation that if it is presented at the house or office indicated, a new sheet of coupons will be given in exchange for it…. The Talon is also a name applied to the marginal appendage of a Spanish coupon, and … payment of the coupon is refused if such talon or appendage happens to have been cut off.
5. attrib. and Comb., as talon-like, -tipped adjs.; † talon-nail, in Farriery, a shoeing-nail driven into the back part of the hoof.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 89/2. Tallon Nail, is that Nail driven in the shooe towards the Horse heel.
1725. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., s.v. Shoeing of horses, The two Talon nails must be drove first, then look whether the shoe stands right or not.
1894. Outing (U.S.), XXIV. 195/1. And talon-tipped hands toss him kisses.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 52. The nails are often split and break, or are changed into talon-like appendages.
Hence † Talon v. trans., to tear with the talons; to claw. In quot. fig.
1685. F. Spence, trans. Varillas’ Ho. Medicis, 306. When they came to talon them with an usurpation.
