caw
noun
the harsh, grating cry of the crow, raven, etc.
caw
American
[kaw]
/ kɔ /
noun
-
caws
plural
verb (used without object)
-
caws,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cawed,
past participle, past
-
cawing
present participle
caw
1
British
/ kɔː /
noun
verb
CAW
2
British
abbreviation
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cawsimple
-
cawssimple
-
have cawedperfect
-
has cawedperfect
-
am cawingprogressive
-
are cawingprogressive
-
is cawingprogressive
-
have been cawingperfect progressive
-
has been cawingperfect progressive
Past
-
cawedsimple
-
had cawedperfect
-
was cawingprogressive
-
were cawingprogressive
-
had been cawingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of caw
First recorded in 1580–90; imitative
Explanation
To caw is to make a loud cry or call, like the sound a crow makes. There are few things spookier than hearing fifty crows caw in your yard at night. Many large birds caw as a way of communicating with each other, but crows and ravens are best known for making this particular cry. You can call the actual sound a caw as well. The word has been around since the 16th century, when it arose as an imitation of the noise itself.
Vocabulary lists containing caw
Essential Three-Letter Words, Part 3
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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
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This Was Our Pact
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Meyers was greeted each morning by a green parrot named Pesto, who became the shop’s mascot and would caw, “Hellllow!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2025
Carrion crows can count out loud, effectively calling “one, two, three” as they caw, researchers report today in Science.
From Science Magazine ● May 22, 2024
It’s in the caw of the crow above that the Ngarigo, the Indigenous people of the Snowy Mountains, hear the voices of ancestors.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 13, 2019
A few people are splashing in the water as seagulls swoop and caw overhead; groups of day-trippers eat ice cream on some modern steps by the beach.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 3, 2017
Magdalys watched the dactyl swoop back into the night with a triumphant caw.
From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older
The site, which is currently almost completely demolished, is being renovated by social welfare group CAW Oost-Vlaanderen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
The property currently belongs to CAW Oost-Vlaanderen, which provides welfare support in Dendermonde, a Flemish community of around 47,000 people.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
No matter what the CAW did, lowered costs, kept things the same, a dollar in the U.S. goes a little farther than it does in Canada.
From Reuters ● Sep. 28, 2012
It has fallen 38 percent since its last contract with the CAW expired Feb. 28.
From BusinessWeek ● Jun. 14, 2011
Mr. Tamba told her that he was the CAW chaperon going on the trip with us and that he would make sure that we returned to Sierra Leone at the end of the conference.
From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah
One 16th Century tale sees Saint Peter trick Welshmen with the call caws bobi - Welsh for roasted cheese - which he said reflected the dish's cultural ties to Wales.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2025
An accordionist spurred the crowd of about 150 to dance, clap or yelp bird caws in approval.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 2025
Estrildid finch songs, Japanese quail calls, squirrel monkey caws and even the ultrasonic vocalizations of house mice were used for comparison in the study.
From Salon ● Jan. 8, 2024
As scientists collect terabytes on terabytes of whale clicks and crow caws, they're hoping that deep learning can find patterns and meaning in the sounds that human beings have always missed.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 19, 2023
“I understand your anger, Elias. You feel pain, sorro—” His words fall upon my ears like the incessant caws of a crow.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
Blackbirds cawed from trees and flapped over block after block of destruction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2025
Dierks Bentley’s stomps on his porch in Colorado jiggled the camera and an off-camera crow cawed at him.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 5, 2020
Sitting in the air-conditioned cafeteria while the cool breezes beckoned and the sea gulls gently cawed a few yards beyond, Josh Weintraub, 18, a film student, looked up from the laptop he was working on.
From New York Times ● Aug. 11, 2014
Crows in nearby trees cawed incessantly as the sisters considered what has happened here since the EPA arrived.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2010
Andeg cawed three times, and seemed to disapprove.
From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich
"These crows rise early and interrupt our sleep with their annoying squeals and cawing," Mombasa resident Victor Kimuli told the BBC.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2024
After chatting and cawing — Fix is losing his ability to speak — they become friendly.
From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2024
“It changed my life because I didn’t have to be ashamed of what I was writing,” she says while sitting on the patio of her Long Beach apartment, seagulls cawing in the distance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
The noises of the Puget Sound filled the air: ship horns blowing, gulls cawing, music playing.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 20, 2021
It’s silent, no voices of children; only the monotonous cawing of a crow, and behind it the sea sound of distant traffic.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
