nighthawk
1
7.3
- noun
- /ˈnaɪtˌhɔk/
- US
:
murciélago
- Two dozen nighthawks careen past, back and forth at arm's length, feeding at our height and lower.
Examples
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The Nighthawk is a unique choice to represent our school, as only a handful of other colleges use it as their mascot.
Blog text (23) -
Overhead swooped bats and nighthawks, chasing the night's insects.
Fiction book (1993) -
The wings of a nighthawk, the dark feathers spread as in flight, rested atop the highest book pile.
Fiction book (1997) -
Nighthawks buzz in the air, and coyotes sing back and forth across the arroyo.
Fiction book (2002) -
East of Grand View, south of the Snake River, nighthawks swoop the roads for gnats, silent on the wing like owls.
Fiction book (1998) -
The nighthawks were beginning to stir on their ledges, all at once, like the dark appendages of a huge, reviving organism, its mute intelligence visible in the manifold lights of its eyes.
Fiction book (1997) -
In the school parking lot, the arc lamp's cone of light seethes with winged insects, swirling, bumping, a luminous feast that the nighthawks scoop through.
Fiction book (2000) -
As dusk fell, we watched a nighthawk gliding effortlessly through the air, searching for insects.
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The distinctive call of the nighthawk echoed in the evening sky as it soared above the fields.
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During the warm summer nights, nighthawks can be seen diving and catching moths in mid-flight.
Synonyms
A night bird in North America that flies low to catch insects
A North American bird active at night that eats flying insects
How Nocturnal
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word nighthawk is made from night and hawk, meaning a 'hawk of the night'. So it fits the bird: it flies at dusk and night and catches insects in the air.