单词 | screech owl |
释义 | screech owln. 1. a. The common barn owl, Tyto alba, whose call resembles a piercing scream and was formerly regarded as an evil omen.Not now in use in North America, where sense 1b is prevalent (but see note at that sense). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Strigiformes or owl > [noun] > family Tytonidae > tyto alba (barn owl) shritch?a1500 scritch owl1510 shritch-owl1538 strich1552 screech owl1567 shriek-owl1567 madge?1576 lich-owl1585 lich-fowl1611 jill-hooter1668 white owl1672 barn owl1674 church owl1678 aluco1753 padge1848 cherubim1864 squinch-owl1880 monkey-facec1940 1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) xv. f. 198v The Screeche owle [L. bubo] sent from hell Did with her tune vnfortunate in euery corner yell. 1594 T. Lodge Wounds Ciuill War iii. i, in W. C. Hazlitt Dodsley's Sel. Coll. Old Eng. Plays (1874) VII. 149 The screech-owl chants her fatal-boding lays. 1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream v. ii. 6 Whilst the scriech-owle, scrieching lowd, Puts the wretch, that lyes in woe, In remembrance of a shrowde. View more context for this quotation 1612 T. Dekker Troia-Noua Triumphans 150 Let Bats and Skreech-Owles murmure at bright Day. 1664 W. Austin Atlas under Olympus Ep. Ded. sig. A4 His Voice..scares away the Bats and Screech-Owls of our Night. 1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 7. ¶2 A Screech-Owl at Midnight has alarm'd a Family, more than a Band of Robbers. 1773 G. White Let. 8 July in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 154 From this screaming probably arose the common people's imaginary species of screech-owl, which they superstitiously think attends the windows of dying persons. 1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. III. vi. vi. 383 Longwinded, unmelodious as the screech-owl's, sounds that prophetic voice. 1872 C. S. Calverley Fly Leaves 5 And the screech-owl scares the peasant As he skirts some churchyard drear. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xiv. [Oxen of the Sun] 394 Agendath is a waste land, a home of screechowls and the sandblind upupa. 1960 J. Bond Birds W. Indies 120 Barn Owl Tyto alba. Local names: Owl; Screech Owl; Night Owl; Death Owl; Death Bird; Jumbie Bird. 1991 Times 2 Dec. 5/2 The barn owl, also known as the screech owl, has been deprived of natural nesting sites and hunting grounds. 2004 G. Woodward I'll go to Bed at Noon iv. 94 The hysterical calling of the screech-owls who lived in the oak tree. b. Originally North American. Any of various small New World owls which have a wailing rather than a hooting call, belonging to the genus Megascops (often with distinguishing word); esp. a common owl of eastern North America, M. asio (more fully Eastern screech owl, †little screech owl).Formerly placed in the genus Otus with the scops owls of the Old World.Some early instances (as quot. 1670) may refer to the barn owl (see sense 1a), which is also present in North America. In the source of quot. 1737 this is clearly distinguished (the American screech owl being erroneously identified with some other European owl, perhaps the scops owl, Otus scops). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Strigiformes or owl > [noun] > family Strigidae > otus asio (screech-owl) screech owl1670 1670 J. Ogilby America ii. ii. 147 The Birds both common and peculiar [to New England] are thus recited:..The long-liv'd Raven, th' ominous Screech-Owl. 1737 J. Brickell Nat. Hist. N.-Carolina 178 The fourth is the small Screech-Owl, and is the same as those in Europe. a1789 J. Ledyard in J. Sparks Mem. Life & Travels J. Ledyard (1828) v. 132 We saw no other kind of birds but the screech-owl. 1812 A. Wilson Amer. Ornithol. V. 83 Red Owl..is..well known by its common name, the Little Screech Owl. 1884 Cent. Mag. Nov. 121 The screech-owl would shake and shiver in the depths of the wood. 1904 F. S. Mathews Field Bk. Wild Birds & their Music 10 But to one who studies bird-music there can be little doubt about the Screech Owl... The quivering tremolo of his remarkable voice has in it the very essence of music. 1949 Amer. Forests Oct. 23/2 The weird call of the more or less familiar screech owl is probably the best known of all the owls. 1975 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 2 Nov. 3/1 The screech owl is the one I hear and see most often. 2015 J. Eastman Birds Nearby 75/2 In rural areas, screech-owls favor open woodland and deciduous woodlots. 2. figurative. A person likened to a screech owl; esp. a person who bears bad news or foretells misfortune. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > [noun] > one who predicts > misfortune scritch owl1595 screech owl1602 raven1606 croaker1637 Balaam1649 prophet of doom1862 Doomie1945 1602 T. Dekker Satiro-mastix sig. F4 Farewell stinckers, I smel thy meaning Screech-owle, I doe tho I stop my nose. a1616 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida (1623) v. xi. 16 Let him that will a screechoule [1609 scrich-ould] aye be call'd, Goe in to Troy, and say there, Hector's dead. 1708 Rehearsal 12 May in C. Leslie View of Times III Other Screech-Owles who Maintain the same Rebellious Principles, and Propogat them through the Nation, to bring down more Wrath from Heaven. 1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe II. xvi. 321 ‘Vile murderous hag!’ replied Front-de-Bœuf; ‘detestable screech-owl!’ 1896 J. Barlow Mrs. Martin's Company 50 To be pitied for havin' to put up wid the ould screech-owl's foolish talk. 1989 P. Davis In Mind Johnson ii. 79 Is not Johnson another screech-owl, serving to ‘weaken for a time that love of life, which is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking’? Compounds† General attributive. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1691 J. Harris Mistakes iii. 41 What Screech-Owl voice is that, that crys out Murder? 1694 W. Dingley Poems Several Occasions 74 Methinks the Screech-owl-Trumpets pierce my Ear, The Death-watch beats, the untun'd Drum I hear. 1796 J. Wolcot Satire in Wks. (1812) III. 409 Of Screech-owl satire Pitt has shorn the wings. 1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. ii. 28 The harsh and dissonant voice, and the screech-owl notes to which it was exalted when he was exhorted to pronounce more distinctly. 1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. III. vi. vi. 385 Then, secondly, his rejected screechowl Oration. 1846 New Q. Rev. 7 164 The same gentleman whose screech-owl note occasionally sounds in the awful stillness of the ‘Foreign Quarterly’. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < |
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