means A bird of prey — like a hawk, eagle, falcon, or owl — that hunts and kills other animals with its talons and hooked beak; in modern usage it also names the agile predatory dinosaurs popularized as 'raptors.'

from From Latin raptor, 'one who seizes or carries off,' from rapere, 'to snatch, grab, seize by force' — the same grasping root that gives us rapture (being seized by joy), rape, ravish, and even rapid. So the name is literal: a raptor is, simply, a snatcher. The dinosaur sense rides on the genus name Velociraptor, coined in the early 20th century from velox 'swift' plus that same raptor — 'swift seizer.'