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

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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

Then we stared, nervously, into the night, and listened for Dad's return, but heard only the wind and the mopoke.

From On Our Selection by Steele Rudd

No cry of beast or bird ruffles the 111 stillness, save perhaps the faint tinkle of the bell-bird or the solemn plaint of the mopoke from some distant scrub.

From Our First Half-Century: A Review of Queensland Progress Based Upon Official Information by Queensland

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

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