Dorhawk
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A European nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus). obsolete
"September 13 1668, Thomas Browne, letter to Dr. Merritt A dorhawk, a bird not full so big as a pigeon, somewhat of a woodcock colour, and paned somewhat like a hawk, with a bill not much bigger than that of a titmouse, and a very wide throat[…]"
Example
More examples"September 13 1668, Thomas Browne, letter to Dr. Merritt A dorhawk, a bird not full so big as a pigeon, somewhat of a woodcock colour, and paned somewhat like a hawk, with a bill not much bigger than that of a titmouse, and a very wide throat[…]"
Etymology
From dor + hawk. So called because it eats the dorbeetle.
More for "dorhawk"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.