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definitions

hoot owl

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noun

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. 2019

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

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