barn owl
noun
: a widely distributed owl (Tyto alba) that has plumage mottled buff brown and gray above and chiefly white below, frequents barns and other buildings, and preys especially on rodents
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web This program will include a trio of screech owls, a barn owl and a peregrine falcon. 
Hartford Courant, 10 June 2022 The resort’s roster includes six Harris’s hawks, one peregrine falcon, one Eurasian eagle owl, one barn owl and an Eastern screech owl. Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2022 Other scenarios — like ship-hitching house crows and hummingbirds, or the barn owl believed to have traveled from England to Afghanistan in the hold of a military aircraft — demonstrate humanity’s role in punting bird species far from their origins. New York Times, 7 Apr. 2022 In the story, a baby barn owl named Plop is frightened of the dark, but he's helped by others to grow in confidence and overcome his fears. Stephanie Petit, PEOPLE.com, 11 Feb. 2022 Who Was Afraid of the Dark tells the story of Plop, a baby barn owl who is helped by others to overcome his fears and grow in confidence. Omid Scobie, Harper's BAZAAR, 7 Feb. 2022 From a bat, buzzard and barn owl, to a scorpion, seahorse and squirrel monkey, Inside In is a collection of more than 50 arthropods, mollusks, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Megan Gambino, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Dec. 2021 Only three barn owl nests were detected between 1995 and 2000, with the last sighting in 1999 in Grant County. Laura Schulte, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 Nov. 2021 Other noteworthy reports from the Cape included a barn owl at South Monomoy Island, and Philadelphia vireos at Fort Hill in Eastham, Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary, Barnstable, and Mashpee, where a worm-eating warbler was also observed. BostonGlobe.com, 4 Sep. 2021 See More
Hartford Courant, 10 June 2022 The resort’s roster includes six Harris’s hawks, one peregrine falcon, one Eurasian eagle owl, one barn owl and an Eastern screech owl. Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2022 Other scenarios — like ship-hitching house crows and hummingbirds, or the barn owl believed to have traveled from England to Afghanistan in the hold of a military aircraft — demonstrate humanity’s role in punting bird species far from their origins. New York Times, 7 Apr. 2022 In the story, a baby barn owl named Plop is frightened of the dark, but he's helped by others to grow in confidence and overcome his fears. Stephanie Petit, PEOPLE.com, 11 Feb. 2022 Who Was Afraid of the Dark tells the story of Plop, a baby barn owl who is helped by others to overcome his fears and grow in confidence. Omid Scobie, Harper's BAZAAR, 7 Feb. 2022 From a bat, buzzard and barn owl, to a scorpion, seahorse and squirrel monkey, Inside In is a collection of more than 50 arthropods, mollusks, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Megan Gambino, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Dec. 2021 Only three barn owl nests were detected between 1995 and 2000, with the last sighting in 1999 in Grant County. Laura Schulte, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 Nov. 2021 Other noteworthy reports from the Cape included a barn owl at South Monomoy Island, and Philadelphia vireos at Fort Hill in Eastham, Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary, Barnstable, and Mashpee, where a worm-eating warbler was also observed. BostonGlobe.com, 4 Sep. 2021 See More Word History
First Known Use
1674, in the meaning defined above