Definition of Poorwill

1. Noun. Goatsucker of western North America.

Exact synonyms: Phalaenoptilus Nuttallii
Generic synonyms: Caprimulgid, Goatsucker, Nightjar
Group relationships: Genus Phalaenoptilus, Phalaenoptilus

Definition of Poorwill

1. n. A bird of the Western United States (Phalænoptilus Nutalli) allied to the whip- poor-will.

Definition of Poorwill

1. Noun. nightjar (bird) ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Poorwill

1. a N. American bird [n -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Poorwill

poorlier
poorliest
poorliness
poorly
poorly(p)
poormouth
poormouthed
poormouthing
poormouths
poorness
poornesses
poort
poortith
poortiths
poorts
poorwill (current term)
poorwills
poos
pooted
pooter
pooters
pooties
pooting
pootle
pootle along
pootled
pootles
pootling

Literary usage of Poorwill

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Auk: Quarterly Journal of Ornithology by American Ornithologists' Union, Nuttall Ornithological Club (1892)
"poorwill.—Common summer resident. 85. Phalaenoptilus nuttalli nitidus. FROSTED poorwill. -Rare migrant. The earliest record of its appearance in 1891 was ..."

2. The Sport of Bird-study: A Book for Young Or Active People by Herbert Keightley Job (1908)
"Ned once got a pretty good view of a Whip- poorwill on the top of a rail ... The Whip- poorwill is brown, the Nighthawk gray, with a white bar on its wings. ..."

3. The Listener in the Town by Joseph Edgar Chamberlin (1896)
"That poorwill word "vociferously" belongs to the whip- poorwill by good right, by the way, for his "botanical name," as the old lady of Cape Cod said, ..."

4. Explorations Into the World of Lewis and Clark V-2 of 3 by Robert A. Saindon (2003)
"In the case ofthe common poorwill, however, it is difficult—even allowing for regional variations in avian dialect—to account for the difference between ..."

5. Walden by Henry David Thoreau (1910)
"Not even rats in the wall, for they were starved out, or rather were never baited in, — only squirrels on the roof and under the floor, a whip- poorwill on ..."

6. Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1895)
"Loud and sudden and near the note of a whip- poorwill sounded Like a flute in the woods ; and anon, through the neighboring thickets, Farther and farther ..."

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