pyow

English

Etymology

Imitative.

Noun

pyow (plural pyows)

1. An alarm call made by the putty-nosed monkey and others, usually a warning that other animals are lurking nearby.
   • 1977, Smithsonian contributions to zoology:

     Sometimes, however, the adult male rejoined the group after emitting "Pyows" and moved with the others in quite a different direction.

   • 1990, Mark A Berkley, William C Stebbins, Comparative Perception: Basic mechanisms:

     Interestingly, the blue monkey's boom and pyow calls are both long-distance signals (Brown, 1989), yet the two calls differ […]

   • 1991, Richard Estes, The behavior guide to African mammals:

     For instance, the bark of a spot-nose and pyow of a blue monkey sound very similar (4).

   • 1993, American Psychological Association, Psychological abstracts:

     Analysis of pyows made by a recognizable male over 10 yrs […]

   • 2007, National Geographic Society, The National Geographic magazine:

     Male putty-nosed monkeys in Nigeria have been observed stringing together calls of pyow and hack.

See also

• boom
• hack