| 释义 |
ˈnight-hawk
[f. night n. + hawk n.1]
1. A name given to various birds; esp.a. The Nightjar or Goatsucker.
1611Bible Lev. xi. 16 The owle, and the nighte-hauke, & the Cuckow. 1783Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds II. 593 Dorr Hawk, Night Jarr, or Night Hawk. 1844Zoologist II. 445, I had brought to me a pair of ‘night-hawks’, as goatsuckers are provincially termed in Kent. 1878T. Hardy Ret. Native iv. vii, A night-hawk revealed his presence by whirring like the clack of a mill.
b. A predominantly nocturnal bird of the genus Chordeiles, esp. C. minor, belonging to the nightjar family, Caprimulgidæ.
1793W. Bentley Diary 22 Aug. (1909) II. 48 We observed a great number of the birds, called here [sc. at Charlestown, N.H.] night hawks, playing in the air. 1812A. Wilson Amer. Ornith. V. 65 On the last week in April, the night hawk commonly makes its first appearance in this part of Pennsylvania. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxxviii. 289 The night-hawk has filled his ravenous maw. 1868Whittier Among Hills 209 We heard the night-hawk's sullen plunge. 1913W. P. Pritchard Barn Doors & Byways 119 The naturalists tell us that the night-hawks nest on top of the Manhattan skyscrapers. 1962O. L. Austin Birds of World 163/2 The plaintive buzzing calls of Nighthawks are now commonly heard above the traffic noises of many American cities as the birds course high over the rooftops in their buoyant, dancing search for flying insects. 1968R. M. Patterson Finlay's River 123 The dew was starting to fall..and the thrum of the night-hawk was sounding from the upper air. 1974D. Sears Lark in Clear Air vi. 73 A night-hawk beeped high and out of sight.
c. A New Zealand owl (Spiloglaux novæ-zealandiæ), also called morepork.
1872A. Domett Ranolf xi. iv, Two loud harsh notes assail her ear, The night-hawk's.
2. fig. One who seeks prey by night. Also, one who stays up late at night; a person who goes out or works at night; spec. = night-herder (see also quots.).
1818Scott Rob Roy xxix, There are night-hawks abroad, so that I cannot give you..the meeting..whilk was my purpose. 1868‘Mark Twain’ Let. 8 Jan. (1920) 80 Jack Van Nostrand, Dan and I, (all Quaker City night-hawks,) had a blow-out at Dan's house. 1893Pall Mall G. 3 Jan. 2/2 When Jack steps ashore with money in his pocket he is..the victim of the crimp and the night-hawk. 1903W. D. Coburn Rhymes from Round-up Camp (rev. ed.) 18 Cotton-Eye, the night-hawk, Was then a top cow-hand. 1915Dialect Notes IV. 209 Night-hawk, a thief or harlot. ‘Those night-hawks ought to be taken up and sent home if they don't know enough to go.’ 1929F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 95 Night hawks, night watchmen stewards. 1934A. Woollcott While Rome Burns 180 Your correspondent, a nighthawk of parts in those days, was within ear-shot. 1948Sierra Club Bull. (San Francisco) Mar. 22 Ed Thistlethwaite..was our night hawk. It was to be his job..to get up and watch the dawn in the high and relatively high pasture lands to which the stock had been pushed, then to round them up and bring them down to work. 1972J. Metcalf Going Down Slow vi. 108 As the hour wore on to eleven p.m. she excused herself and retired, always calling them ‘night-hawks’. |