Dictionary.com
definitions

hoot owl

noun
  1. any of various owls that hoot.

Origin of hoot owl

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hoot owl

Historical Examples of hoot owl

  • The call of the hoot-owl was too familiar to the Coombeland men to deceive.

    Crown and Sceptre

    George Manville Fenn

  • From the Bowhead the sound comes like the drawn-out "hoo-hoo-oo-oo-oo" of the hoot-owl.

    The New North

    Agnes Deans Cameron

  • The distant sound of a hoot-owl startled Flea from her tears.

  • She goes 'bout the lake doin' nothin' but hollerin' like a hoot-owl, and she don't have enough to eat.

  • Very often they sighed, and sometimes there was a pensive quietness broken only by the hoot-owl.

    A Little Florida Lady

    Dorothy C. Paine

British Dictionary definitions for hoot owl

hoot owl

noun
  1. any owl that utters a hooting cry, as distinct from a screech owl
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012