owl
Americannoun
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owls
plural
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any of numerous, chiefly nocturnal birds of prey, of the order Strigiformes, having a broad head with large, forward-directed eyes that are usually surrounded by disks of modified feathers: many populations are diminishing owing to loss of habitat.
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one of a breed of domestic pigeons having an owllike appearance.
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a person of owllike solemnity or appearance.
adjective
noun
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any nocturnal bird of prey of the order Strigiformes, having large front-facing eyes, a small hooked bill, soft feathers, and a short neck
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any of various breeds of owl-like fancy domestic pigeon (esp the African owl, Chinese owl, and English owl )
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a person who looks or behaves like an owl, esp in having a solemn manner
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of owl
before 900; Middle English oule, Old English ūle; cognate with Low German ūle, Dutch uil; akin to German Eule, Old Norse ugla
Explanation
While most birds are known for their tweeting, owls are known for their hooting. If you hear a "hoot" in the woods, look for an owl (But bring your flashlight; owls are nocturnal.). Owls share some similarities with hawks — both birds are predators, with very strong beaks and claws meant for grabbing mice, insects, rabbits, and even fish. One notable difference is that an owl has eyes on the front of its face, while most hawks have eyes on the sides of their heads. To compensate, owls can turn their heads as much as 270 degrees, to see what's behind them. Owl comes from an imitative root — a word that sounds like an owl's hoot.
Vocabulary lists containing owl
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In 2021, Fresno High School changed its mascot from a warrior to an image of one of its main buildings, Royce Hall, featuring an owl and an international baccalaureate symbol.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
"The piece of its upper arm bone that we have is about 4 inches long, so the entire dinosaur probably had something like a four-foot wingspan, around the size of a barn owl."
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
As a natural lark, not an owl, I have seldom needed an alarm clock.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
The second category of birds feature: the Atlantic puffin, the barn owl, the common kingfisher, the Eurasian curlew, the great spotted woodpecker, and the white-tailed eagle.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
Instead of making off while he had the advantage, Abel cocked his spear and challenged the owl to descend and fight.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
Wildlife officials had found that many of these poisons worked their way through the food chain, sickening and killing owls, raptors, coyotes and mountain lions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
From autumn, the project will also be aiming to offer "real estate" for wild barn, tawny and little owls, with nest boxes at the Bishop Auckland site and spots from Northumberland down to North Yorkshire.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
That definition stood for decades, notably surviving a 1995 Supreme Court case focused on the protection of old-growth forests for spotted owls.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
A remarkable fossil site in northwestern China has yielded hundreds of prehistoric bird remains, including clusters of shattered bones compressed into pellet-like masses resembling those produced by modern owls.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
The ceilings rose to six meters high, decorated with elaborate paintings of owls in the branches of white poplars.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
