mopoke

British  

/ ˈməʊˌpəʊk /

noun

1. Also called (NZ): ruru. a small spotted owl, Ninox novaeseelandiae, of Australia and New Zealand. In Australia the tawny frogmouth, Podargus strigoides, is very often wrongly identified as the mopoke

2. slang a slow or lugubrious person

---

Etymology

Origin of mopoke

C19: imitative of the bird's cry

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mopoke

Magpie to mopoke: diurnal and nocturnal Australian birds; hence, "dawn to dusk."

From Time Magazine Archive

The hooting of the mopoke owl Floats on the midnight air; The prowling dingoe’s dismal howl Is chorused wide and far.

From Early Days in North Queensland by Edward Palmer

They imitate with precision the notes of the laughing jackass, the parrot, the solemn mopoke, and moreover they reproduce every sound made by man.

From Australian Pictures Drawn with Pen and Pencil by Howard Willoughby

And all day through, from the time of the dew To the hour when the mopoke calls, Our mallets ring where the woodbirds sing Sweet hymns by the waterfalls.

From The Poems of Henry Kendall With Biographical Note by Bertram Stevens by Henry Kendall

I believe he's the devil in the shape of a mopoke!

From Robbery under Arms; a story of life and adventure in the bush and in the Australian goldfields by Rolf Boldrewood

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---