caw
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
abbreviation
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.
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
Seagulls, protecting their trashy turf, caw in the air, and public buses — which often break down, sometimes explode, but rarely arrive on time — screech on the ground.
From New York Times • Dec. 24, 2018
Their small black eyes were full of secrets, and they would caw at him and peck his skin when they heard the songs.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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.
