NIGHTHAWK • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Nighthawk

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/nˈaɪthˌɔk/ Listen

noun

nighthawk n.

A person who likes to be active late at night; a night owl.

Synonyms: night owl, nightbird.

(Zool.) Any of several mainly nocturnal North American goatsuckers, especially Chordeiles minor, or the related European goatsucker Caprimulgus europaeus, also called the nightjar.

Synonyms: bullbat, mosquito hawk.

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Etymology of 'Nighthawk'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Nighthawk" Quotes from Famous Books

... speechmaker," began Daniel Boone, his voice trembling slightly as he spoke. "I know a little of the language of the deer and of the songs of the birds. The cry of the nighthawk has its meaning for me, to which it almost would be possible for me to reply. Even the scream of the painter is in a language which I understand, but when I look into the faces of my friends, who are much better fitted than I am to say what is best for this ...

— Scouting with Daniel Boone • Everett T. Tomlinson

... by sound, in nearly all parts of its range, but comparatively few ever observed the bird, and probably the greater number mistake the Nighthawk for this species. The two species can readily be distinguished at a distance by the absence of any pronounced white marking in the wings, and by the white tips to the outer tail feathers in the present species, while the Night Hawk has a prominent white band across the tail, but the top is black, ...

— The Bird Book • Chester A. Reed

... continued, with a glance around, to make sure that his audience was attentive, "again, here a curious thing, ladies and gentlemen. The Nighthawk shell, not common in any part of the world. The two halves held together of this manner, behold the nighthawk, as he flies through ...

— Nautilus • Laura E. Richards