Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FAL'CON, n. [sometimes pronounced fawcon. Fr. faucon; It. falcone; L. falco, a hawk; W. gwalç, a crested one, a hero, a hawk, that which rises or towers. The falcon is probably so named from its curving beak or talons.]

1. A hawk; but appropriately, a hawk trained to sport, as in falconry, – which see. It is said that this name is, by sportsmen, given to the female alone; for the male is smaller, weaker and less courageous, and is therefore called tircelel or tarsel. – Encyc. This term, in ornithology, is applied to a division of the genus Falco, with a short hooked beak and very long wings, the strongest armed and most courageous species, and therefore used in falconry. – Cuvier. Ed. Encyc.
2. A sort of cannon, whose diameter at the bore is five inches and a quarter, and carrying shot of two pounds and a half. – Harris