a scientific name for a partlyfossilised, huge raptorial bird of New Zealand. From GreekHARPA? harpax robbing, and 'ornis, a bird.
1878. A. Newton, `Encyclopaedia Britannica,' vol. iii. p. 731:
«There is a harpagornis, a bird of prey of stature sufficientto have made the largest dinornis its quarry.»