whippoorwill
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whippoorwill
See also: whip-poor-will
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Imitative of its note.
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈʍɪp.ɚˌwɪl/, /ˈwɪp.ɚˌwɪl/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈwɪp.əˌwɪl/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Hyphenation: whip‧poor‧will
Noun
whippoorwill (plural whippoorwills)
- A nocturnal insectivorous bird of North America (Antrostomus vociferus, syn. Caprimulgus vociferus), a type of nightjar, named after its characteristic call.
- 1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 55:
- “Seems like I heard a whippoorwill callinʼ, and I thought to myself, Go on away from here, weʼll whip ole Will when we find him.”
- (Can we verify(+) this sense?) The distinctive call of the above bird.
- The bird sang his whippoorwills all night.
- 2023 December 12, Timothy C. Baker, Reading My Mother Back: A Memoir in Childhood Animal Stories, MIT Press, →ISBN:
- From across the road a bird sang 'Whippoorwill, whippoorwill!'
Derived terms
Translations
bird
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See also
References
- “whippoorwill”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.