hawk1

 
Pronunciation: /hɔːk/

noun

  • 1a diurnal bird of prey with broad rounded wings and a long tail, typically taking prey by surprise with a short chase. Compare with falcon.
    • Family Accipitridae: several genera, especially Accipiter, which includes the sparrowhawk and goshawk
  • North American a bird of prey related to the buzzards.
  • Falconry any diurnal bird of prey used in falconry.
  • 2a person who advocates an aggressive or warlike policy, especially in foreign affairs: severe limits were put on the peace plan by party hawksCompare with dove1 (sense 2).
  • 3used in names of hawkmoths, e.g. eyed hawk.

verb

[no object]
  • 1(of a person) hunt game with a trained hawk: he spent the afternoon hawking
  • 2(of a bird or dragonfly) hunt on the wing for food: swifts hawked low over the water

Phrases

have eyes like a hawk

miss nothing of what is going on around one.

watch someone like a hawk

keep a vigilant eye on someone, especially to check that they do nothing wrong: she watched them like a hawk because some of them were bound to cheat

Derivatives

hawklike

adjective

Origin:

Old English hafoc, heafoc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch havik and German Habicht