howlet

English

Alternative forms

• houlet

Etymology

Equivalent to owlet, influenced by howl. Compare French hulotte and Old High German hwela, hiuwela.

Noun

howlet (plural howlets)

1. An owl; an owlet.
   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XVIII:

     Will the night send a howlet or a bat? / I asked: when something on the dismal flat / Came to arrest my thoughts and change their train.

References

• “howlet”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• thowel