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Hawk   /hɔk/   Listen
noun
Hawk  n.  (Zool.) One of numerous species and genera of rapacious birds of the family Falconidae. They differ from the true falcons in lacking the prominent tooth and notch of the bill, and in having shorter and less pointed wings. Many are of large size and grade into the eagles. Some, as the goshawk, were formerly trained like falcons. In a more general sense the word is not infrequently applied, also, to true falcons, as the sparrow hawk, pigeon hawk, duck hawk, and prairie hawk. Note: Among the common American species are the red-tailed hawk (Buteo borealis); the red-shouldered (Buteo lineatus); the broad-winged (Buteo Pennsylvanicus); the rough-legged (Archibuteo lagopus); the sharp-shinned (Accipiter fuscus). See Fishhawk, Goshawk, Marsh hawk, under Marsh, Night hawk, under Night.
Bee hawk (Zool.), the honey buzzard.
Eagle hawk. See under Eagle.
Hawk eagle (Zool.), an Asiatic bird of the genus Spizaetus, or Limnaetus, intermediate between the hawks and eagles. There are several species.
Hawk fly (Zool.), a voracious fly of the family Asilidae. See Hornet fly, under Hornet.
Hawk moth. (Zool.) See Hawk moth, in the Vocabulary.
Hawk owl. (Zool.)
(a)
A northern owl (Surnia ulula) of Europe and America. It flies by day, and in some respects resembles the hawks.
(b)
An owl of India (Ninox scutellatus).
Hawk's bill (Horology), the pawl for the rack, in the striking mechanism of a clock.



Hawk  n.  An effort to force up phlegm from the throat, accompanied with noise.



Hawk  n.  (Masonry) A small board, with a handle on the under side, to hold mortar.
Hawk boy, an attendant on a plasterer to supply him with mortar.



verb
Hawk  v. t.  To raise by hawking, as phlegm.



Hawk  v. t.  To offer for sale by outcry in the street; to carry (merchandise) about from place to place for sale; to peddle; as, to hawk goods or pamphlets. "His works were hawked in every street."



Hawk  v. i.  (past & past part. hawked; pres. part. hawking)  
1.
To catch, or attempt to catch, birds by means of hawks trained for the purpose, and let loose on the prey; to practice falconry. "A falconer Henry is, when Emma hawks."
2.
To make an attack while on the wing; to soar and strike like a hawk; generally with at; as, to hawk at flies. "A falcon, towering in her pride of place, Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed."



Hawk  v. i.  To clear the throat with an audible sound by forcing an expiratory current of air through the narrow passage between the depressed soft palate and the root of the tongue, thus aiding in the removal of foreign substances.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Hawk" Quotes from Famous Books



... in answer to Snell's signal was the man in black, and he quickly pounced upon the boy, like a huge hawk upon its prey. ...
— Frank Merriwell's Chums • Burt L. Standish

... his face when, without warning, there came a sweep of great wings just over his head. The muskrat dodged and turned to the pool, but he was too late. The hawk dropped like a thunderbolt, caught him in its talons and rose swiftly into the air far above the quiet pool. For a moment the big muskrat was stunned with the force and suddenness of the attack; very soon, however, his wits returned, and he squirmed sharply until the ...
— Followers of the Trail • Zoe Meyer

... thought of what had passed, she wandered on to the veranda of her archery pavilion, and while gazing half unconsciously heavenward her eyes were attracted by a hawk which flew past and alighted on a tree beyond the boundary-wall, and in front of the study she had lately left. In a restless and thoughtless mood, she took up her bow and arrow, and with unerring aim compassed the death of her ...
— Stories by English Authors: Orient • Various

... soft gray patches of grass, sheered down and down, and out in rolling slope to merge upon a cedar-dotted level. Nothing moved below, but a red-tailed hawk sailed across her vision. How still—how gray the desert floor as it reached away, losing its black dots, and gaining bronze spots of stone! By plain and prairie it fell away, each inch of gray in her sight magnifying into its league-long roll. On and on, and down ...
— The Call of the Canyon • Zane Grey

... Oldborough's, among a heap of books of heraldry, with which his table was covered, I spied an old book of my father's on the arte of deciphering, which he had lent Commissioner Falconer years ago. Lord Oldborough, whose eye is quick as a hawk's, saw my eye turn towards it, and he asked me if I knew any thing of that book, or of the art of deciphering? Nothing of the art, but something of the book, which I recollected to be my father's. His ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. VII - Patronage • Maria Edgeworth


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