talons

Noun

talon (plural talons)

1. A sharp, hooked claw of a bird of prey or other predatory animal.
   • and now doth gaſtly death
     With greedie talients gripe my bleeding hart,
     And like a Harpye tires on my life.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...

   Synonyms:

   fang

2. One of certain small prominences on the hind part of the face of an elephant's tooth.
3. A kind of moulding, concave at the bottom and convex at the top; an ogee. (When the concave part is at the top, it is called an inverted talon.)
4. The shoulder of the bolt of a lock on which the key acts to shoot the bolt.
   • The locks were constructed with two or three levers, and sometimes with a common tumbler. The talon is the secret; for after locking the bolt out, the key is turned round again quietly to catch the nib and force the talon up1856, George Price, A Treatise on Fire and Thief-proof Depositories, and Locks
5. The remaining stock of undealt cards.
6. (historical) A document that could be detached and presented in exchange for a block of further coupons on a bond, when the original block had been used up.

See all 8 meanings of talon