owl

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Any of various birds of prey of the order Strigiformes, families Strigidae and Tytonidae, that are primarily nocturnal and have forward-looking, binocular vision, limited eye movement, and good hearing.

   A group of owls is called a parliament.

2. 2
   noun

   nocturnal bird of prey with hawk-like beak and claws and large head with front-facing eyes

3. 3
   noun

   A person seen as having owl-like characteristics, especially appearing wise or serious, or being nocturnally active.

4. 4
   noun

   An owl pigeon.

5. 5
   noun

   A politician with moderate views that are neither hawkish nor dovish.

6. 6
   noun

   Any of various nymphalid butterflies, especially in the genus Caligo, having large eyespots on the wings.

7. 7
   verb

   To smuggle contraband goods.

8. 8
   noun

   Initialism of Older Women's League.

Etymology

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).