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hawk1

Syllabification: (hawk)
Pronunciation: /hôk/

Translate hawk | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of hawk

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 Cooper’s hawk and goshawk
  • a bird of prey related to the buteos.
  • Falconry any diurnal bird of prey used in falconry.
  • 2a person who advocates an aggressive or warlike policy, especially in foreign affairs. Compare with dove1 (sense 2).

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 [with object]:dragonflies hawk and feed on flies

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.

Derivatives

hawkish

adjective

hawkishly

adverb

hawkishness

noun

hawklike

Pronunciation: /-ˌlīk/

adjective

Origin:

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

hawk in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of hawk in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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