🦅 A hunting bird 💣 A war supporter 🗣️ To sell loudly 🦅 To hunt with birds 🤧 To clear throat 🧱 A mason's board

to hawk

1 8.9

To clear the throat loudly by bringing up mucus

verb
/hɔk/

Informal

: escupir flema

He coughed, hawked, and spat something onto the rug.
hawking up phlegm
hawking and spitting
hawked and spat

Examples

She was forever hawking up blood.

Fiction book (2002)
She makes a hawking sound, and the two girls crack up.

Fiction book (2000)
Narrator 1: Mark makes a hawking noise deep in his throat.

Fiction book (1998)
Being indoors in ladies' company, he stomps outside to hawk and spit and does not come back.

Fiction book (1990)
Narrator 2: As the two younger boys walk away, Mark makes a hawking noise and spits into the street.

Fiction book (1998)
She hawked up morning phlegm and spat into the snow.

Fiction book (1992)
Ahead, the old shaman bent into the wind, hawking to spit phlegm from his lungs.

Fiction book (1990)
Staring at Shane as they pass, Charlie hawks and spits on the sidewalk.

Fiction book (1991)
He waited a moment, again hawked, and this time spat into the firepit.

Fiction book (1992)
Before running the race, he hawked up some phlegm to clear his throat.

Synonyms

to spit

vsto hawk

296 1.0

To force liquid out of the mouth, often onto the ground

focuses on clearing the throat before or instead of forceful ejection

to clear

vsto hawk

55 3.7

To make a short rough sound to remove mucus from the throat

is more forceful and often involves preparing to spit

to clear the throat

vsto hawk

1 2.7

To cough slightly to remove mucus from your throat or to get attention

is stronger than that action and often leads to preparing to spit

Antonyms

swallow

15 1.0

A small amount of food or drink taken into the throat at once

Compounds

red-tailed hawk

5 5.5

A large North American bird that hunts small animals with a red-brown tail

chicken hawk

2 8.2

A hawk that eats or attacks chickens

war hawk

2 7.4

A person who strongly supports using the military or going to war

chicken hawk

Offensive

1 9.3

A person who supports war but never served in the military

hawk owl

Specialized

1 7.9

A grey and white owl that hunts small mammals during the day in northern regions

Cooper's hawk

1 7.1

A medium-sized grey North American bird of prey that flies quickly through woods

hawk moth

Specialized

1 6.5

A large night insect with long wings that hovers to drink flower nectar

hawk nose

1 6.7

A nose curved downward like a hawk's beak

ball hawk

Slang

1 7.0

A player who often steals or catches the ball from the other team to help their team

red-shouldered hawk

Specialized

1 8.6

A medium-sized North American bird of prey with reddish shoulders that lives in woods near water

fish hawk

1 4.9

A large hawk that catches fish, for example an osprey

sparrow hawk

1 5.9

A small bird that hunts other small birds and insects

mosquito hawk

1 6.8

A large slender insect with shiny wings that eats mosquitoes

rough-legged hawk

Specialized

1 7.0

A large Northern hawk with feathered legs that hunts small animals like mice

marsh hawk

Specialized

1 8.1

A bird that nests in marshes and flies low to hunt small animals

hen hawk

1 9.2

A bird that kills and eats chickens

mosquito hawk

9.3

A North American bird active at night that eats flying insects

pigeon hawk

8.8

A small hunting bird that catches other birds like pigeons

swallow-tailed hawk

9.1

A large North American hunting bird with black and white feathers and a deeply forked tail

skeeter hawk

9.5

A long thin insect with bright wings that eats mosquitoes and does not sting

How Forceful

spit

71 1.0

to hawk

Informal

1 8.9

to clear the throat

1 2.7

Surface Forms

hawk infinitive

hawked past

hawked past participle

hawking present participle

hawks third person singular

Etymology

Hawk (clear the throat) is a sound-word that copies the rough noise 'haw' you make when you clear your throat. A helpful way to remember it is to think of the harsh throat sound, which is why we say someone 'hawked' before speaking.