α. 1800s quauk, 1800s– quawk, 1900s– couac, 1900s– quock, 1900s– quok, 1900s– quowk.
β. 1800s quwark, 1800s– quark.
quawkn.
/kwɔːk/, U.S. /kwɔk/, /kwɑk/ 1. Chiefly U.S. regional. The black-crowned night heron, Nycticorax nycticorax, which has a deep, hoarse call. Cf. qua-bird n.
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the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Ciconiiformes (storks, etc.) > [noun] > family Ardeidae (herons and bitterns) > genus Nycticorax (night-heron)
Nycticorax1688
shitepoke1775
Quaker1776
night heron1785
qua-bird1792
mudpoke1809
quawk1844
nankeen crane1872
squawk1872
1844 J. E. DeKay Zool. N.Y. II. 227 The Black-crowned Night Heron, or Quawk,..derives its popular name from the deep gutteral cry.
1867 Amer. Naturalist 1 344 Many..were all agog to cover themselves with glory by shooting a quawk.
1895 F. M. Chapman Handbk. Birds Eastern N. Amer. 136 Black-crowned Night Heron; Quawk.
1926 A. C. Bent Life Hist. N. Amer. Marsh Birds 197 The familiar night heron or ‘quawk’ is one of the best known and most widely distributed of our herons.
1961 F. G. Cassidy Jamaica Talk xiv. 298 The night herons go by the name of quok.
1968 J. Hay Sandy Shore xii. 58 There are little green herons and black-crowned night herons (locally called Quawks), but neither species is as common today as it once was.
2. The harsh call of a night heron, duck, or other bird.
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the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > subfamily Merginae (duck) > [interjection] > quack
quakea1529
quack1577
quack quack1698
quawk1863
the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Ciconiiformes (storks, etc.) > [noun] > family Ardeidae (herons and bitterns) > genus Nycticorax (night-heron) > cry of
quawk1863
1863 ‘G. Hamilton’ Gala-days 73 For the heavy booming of cannon rose the ‘quauk!’ of ducks.
a1864 J. Clare Later Poems (1984) I. 624 The sooty crow Flew up and gave a quark.
1895 F. M. Chapman Handbk. Birds Eastern N. Amer. 137 Occasionally they [sc. black-crowned night herons] utter a loud, hoarse quawk, the origin of their common name.
1962 R. S. Palmer Handbk. N. Amer. Birds I. 476 The Black-crown's note can be expressed as quock.
1968 V. Nabokov King, Queen, Knave vii. 146 From beyond the door came noise, laughter, the squeals of a helpless pig, the quawks of a tortured turkey.
1981 Gettysburg (Pa.) Times 27 Feb. 14/1 Quawk is the sound made by a black-crowned night heron.
1991 M. Henry Panto Sphinx 48 I wander through an Oxford park hear a moorhen's plainant note they say it is a crake or quark.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
quawkv.
/kwɔːk/, U.S. /kwɔk/, /kwɑk/α. 1800s– quawk, 1900s– quouk (U.S. regional (Midland)).
β. 1800s– quark (English regional (midlands and northern)), 1800s– quork (U.S. regional).
Originally and chiefly regional.
intransitive. Of a bird or other creature, esp. a rook, crow, or domestic fowl: to utter a harsh call or quawk; to squawk. Cf. cawk vb. at cawk n.2 Derivatives.
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the world > animals > birds > sound or bird defined by > [verb (intransitive)] > cry or call > harshly
creakc1325
crakec1386
yawpc1400
crunk1565
cawk1761
quawk1821
clang1832
clank1865
squark1871
1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel II. 121 The rooks..Quawk clamorous to the spring's approach.
1858 J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 1st Ser. (rev. ed.) in Poet. Wks. (1866) ii. 126 Ole gander flopped His wings a spell, an' quorked, an' dropped.
1883 Atlantic Monthly May 628/2 Happy fowls..quawked and strutted to and fro.
1893 D. Jordan Forest Tithes 190 The herons quarked harshly.
1910 P. MacKaye Garland to Sylvia iii. 121 These are a kind o' fowl called golden geese That quawk in the wood o' mornings.
1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven xiv. 229 An' this old pelican went flying round scared at itself and quarking something frightful.
1999 Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) (Nexis) 28 Mar. (Sunshine Mag.) 8 I happened to find out that by blowing very gently on his beak, he [sc. a cockatoo] would quawk, quawk.
Derivatives
ˈquawking n.
ΚΠ
1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel I. 24 Rous'd by quawking of the flopping crows.
1860 J. F. Campbell Pop. Tales W. Highlands II. 145 The gurgling and quarking of spring frogs in a pond.
1938 Daily Times-News (Burlington, N. Carolina) 21 Jan. 4/3 Donald Duck's quawking sounds like Rae Dooley in that baby carriage scene in the Follies.
1981 News (Frederick, Maryland) 26 Feb. c7/5 The reason I entered was because I'm a pretty good duck caller. I guessed quawking couldn't be so much different.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1844v.1821