owl

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search
See also OWL

Contents

English [edit]

Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia

A northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina)
A 19th-century watercolour of an oriental bay owl (Phodilus badius), from the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings, National Museum of Singapore

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English owle, from Old English ūle, from Proto-Germanic *uwwalōn (compare West Frisian ûle, Dutch uil, Danish ugle, cf. also German Eule), diminutive of *uwwōn ‘eagle-owl’ (compare German Uhu), of imitative origin or a variant of *ūfaz, *ūfōn (compare Swedish uv ‘horned owl’, Bavarian Auf),[1] from Proto-Indo-European *up- (compare Latvian ũpis ‘eagle-owl’, Czech úpěti ‘to wail, howl’, Avestan ufyeimi ‘to call out’)[2].[3]

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

owl (plural owls)

  1. Any of various birds of prey of the order Strigiformes 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.

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Marlies Philippa et al, eds., Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands, A-Z, s.v. “uil” (Amsterdam UP, 3 Dec. 2009): <http://www.etymologie.nl>.
  2. ^ Rick Derksen, Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, s.vv. “vъpìti”, “vypь” (Leiden: Brill, 1998), pp. 532:535.
  3. ^ Vladimir Orel, A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, s.vv. “*uwwalōn”, “*uwwōn”, “*ūfaz ~ *ūfōn” (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 436.

See also [edit]

Anagrams [edit]