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screech-owl

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“

"Peace, screech-owl!" answered Middlemas, "nor drive me to such madness as may lead me to forget thou art a woman."

—The Surgeon's Daughter

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Definitions (1)

American Heritage Dictionary

Century Dictionary (1)

An owl that screeches, as distinguished from one that hoots: applied to various species. In Great Britain it is a common name of the barn-owl. In the United States it is specifically applied to the small horned owls of the genus Scops (or Megascops). See red owl (under red), and compare saw-whet. Battes, Owles, and Scritch-owles, birds of darknesse, were the objects of their darkened Deuotions. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 697. A screech-owl at midnight has alarmed a family more than a band of robbers. Addison, Spectator, No. 7.

GNU Webster's 1913

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Examples (50)

The screech-owl had come out of his hole, and bats were already blundering about, and the air was more cool. — Chivalry
The screech-owl and the whistler shrill, — English Songs and Ballads
While the screech-owl, screeching loud, — English Songs and Ballads
"You old screech-owl!" she cried. — The Best Short Stories of 1920 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story
May no wolf howl, or screech-owl stir — The Hesperides & Noble Numbers: Vol. 1 and 2

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Used in the Same Context

washwoman · owlet · cornetist · belter · ringside · uninterpretable · dragonette · indifferency · owoc · owl-like · crewwoman · isover

Etymologies (1)

Century Dictionary (1)

Also formerly or dial. scritch-owl (= Swedish skrik-uggla); from screech, scritch, + owl.

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