morepork

British  

/ ˈmɔːˌpɔːk /

noun

1. Also called: ruru.  a small spotted owl, Ninox novaeseelandiae, of Australia and New Zealand

2. slang a slow or lugubrious person

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Example Sentences

The bell-bird and the tui sing a requiem over them by day, while the morepork and the kiwi wail for them at night.

From Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2) or Settler and Maori in Northern New Zealand by Hay, William Delisle

A bird of the owl species, called by the colonists morepork, and by the natives whuck-whuck, derives both its names from the peculiarity of its note.

From Austral English A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia by Morris, Edward Ellis

Somewhere, apparently at an immense distance, a morepork was chanting his monotonous cry.

From Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn by Kingsley, Henry

The silence of night was only interrupted by the cries of the "morepork" in the minor key, like the mournful cuckoos of Europe.

From In Search of the Castaways; or the Children of Captain Grant by Verne, Jules