owl

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A bird of prey that is active mainly at night, with large forward-facing eyes, a flat face, and excellent hearing.

   An owl hooted softly somewhere in the dark forest.

2. 2
   noun

   A person who seems wise or serious, or who is active at night.

   He's a real night owl and does his best work after midnight.

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Simplified etymology

Owl is an Old English word whose name probably originated as an imitation of the bird’s call. Its nocturnal habits later produced night owl for someone active late at night and may also underlie the former term owling for nighttime wool smuggling, though that connection is uncertain.

From Middle English oule, owle, from Old English ūle, from Proto-West Germanic *uwwilā, from Proto-Germanic *uwwalǭ (compare West Frisian ûle, Dutch uil, Danish and Norwegian ugle, German Eule), diminutive of *uwwǭ (“eagle-owl”) (compare German Uhu), of imitative origin or a variant of *ūfaz, *ūfǭ (compare Old English ūf or hūf, Swedish uv (“horned owl”), Bavarian Auf), from Proto-Indo-European *up- (compare Latvian ũpis (“eagle-owl”), Czech úpět (“to wail, howl”), Avestan 𐬎𐬟𐬌𐬌𐬈𐬌𐬨𐬌 (ufiieimi, “to call out”). A Germanic variant *uwwilǭ was the source of Old High German ūwila (German Eule).

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