English Explanatory Dictionary

owl

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any of various birds of prey of the order Strigiformes, families Strigidae and Tytonidae, that are primarily nocturnal and have forward-looking, binocular vision, limited eye movement, and good hearing.
  2. A person seen as having owl-like characteristics, especially appearing wise or serious, or being nocturnally active.
  3. An owl pigeon.
  4. A politician with moderate views that are neither hawkish nor dovish.
  5. Any of various nymphalid butterflies, especially in the genus Caligo, having large eyespots on the wings.
verb
  1. To smuggle contraband goods.
noun
  1. Initialism of Older Women's League.
  2. Initialism of Web Ontology Language (The order of the letters is discussed at Web Ontology Language § Acronym.)
noun
  1. A player or fan of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.

Pronunciation

/aʊ(ə)l/ en-us-owl.ogg

Word forms

owl owls owling owled

Etymology

From Middle English oule, owle, from Old English ūle, from Proto-West Germanic *uwwilā, from Proto-Germanic *uwwalǭ (compare West Frisian ûle, Dutch uil, Danish and Norwegian ugle, German Eule), diminutive of *uwwǭ (“eagle-owl”) (compare German Uhu), of imitative origin or a variant of *ūfaz, *ūfǭ (compare Old English ūf or hūf, Swedish uv (“horned owl”), Bavarian Auf), from Proto-Indo-European *up- (compare Latvian ũpis (“eagle-owl”), Czech úpět (“to wail, howl”), Avestan 𐬎𐬟𐬌𐬌𐬈𐬌𐬨𐬌 (ufiieimi, “to call out”). A Germanic variant *uwwilǭ was the source of Old High German ūwila (German Eule).

Antonyms

lark

Related words

hoot to-whit, to-whoo whoo who hoo hoohoo

Derived words

Acadian owl as wise as an owl bare-legged owl barn owl barred owl bay owl blind as an owl boobook owl boreal owl brown owl buffy fish owl burrowing owl burrow owl Cosmic Owl disc owl disk owl drunk as a boiled owl drunk as an owl eagle owl eagle-owl elf owl Eurasian eagle owl Eurasian pygmy owl Eurasian scops owl fernowl fishing owl fish owl flammulated owl gnome owl great grey owl great horned owl hawk owl hawk-owl hoot owl hoot owl shift hoot owl trail horned owl hornowl ivy owl jar-owl Lapland owl laughing owl little owl long eared owl long-eared owl monkey-faced owl mottled owl night owl night-owl northern hawk owl owlbear owl bus owl-butterfly owl butterfly owl clover owldom owler owlery owlet owl-eyed
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