howlet

American  

[hou-lit] / ˈhaʊ lɪt /

noun

British Dialect.

1. an owl or owlet.

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howlet British  

/ ˈhaʊlɪt /

noun

1. archaic another word for owl

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Etymology

Origin of howlet

1425–75; late Middle English; perhaps < French hulotte wood-owl, perhaps derivative of Middle French huler to howl < Germanic; see howl

Example Sentences

Umph!" answered the King—"but you have never seen my daughter Joan.—A howlet, man!—an absolute owl, whom I am ashamed of!

From Quentin Durward by Scott, Walter, Sir

I was both aweary and sleepy and also as poor as a howlet, and all that the wicked witch knew. 

From Bunyan Characters (2nd Series) by Whyte, Alexander

As I stood by yon roofless tower, Where the wa'flow'r scents the dery air, Where the howlet mourns in her ivy bower, And tells the midnight moon her care.

From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Burns, Robert

When you are weary and sleepy and hungry as a howlet, and, Madam Bubble and her three daughters make a ring round you, what do you do? 

From Bunyan Characters (2nd Series) by Whyte, Alexander

There was three fooles, fell out about an howlet: The one sed it was an owle, The other he sed nay, The third he sed it was a hawke, And her bels wer cut away.

From The Two Noble Kinsmen by Shakespeare (spurious and doubtful works)