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night raven

noun
  1. a bird that cries in the night.
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Origin of night raven

before 900; Middle English; Old English nihthræfn, næhthræfn.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for night raven

Historical Examples

  • I had as lief have heard the night-raven, come what plague could have come after it.

    The Ornithology of Shakespeare

    James Edmund Harting

  • In some parts both of England and Ireland it is known as the Night-raven, and under that title is held in the greatest fear.

    Bible Animals;

    J. G. Wood

  • By 'raven,' the poet probably meant the night-raven, of which he had already spoken in Much Ado, ii.

  • Benedick observes to himself: I had as lief have heard the night-raven, come what plague could have come after it.

    Folk-lore of Shakespeare

    Thomas Firminger Thiselton-Dyer

British Dictionary definitions for night raven

night raven

noun
  1. poetic any bird, esp the night heron, that is most active at night
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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