prairie owl
AmericanEtymology
Origin of prairie owl
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50
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.
No living thing stirred, save now and then a prairie owl flitting through the gloom added to the sombre desolation of the scene.
From The Great Lone Land A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North-West of America by William Francis Butler
Of a sudden, out of the maize patch, out of the grass, seemingly out of space itself, came a new cry—the trilling call of the prairie owl.
From Where the Trail Divides by Will Lillibridge
There was no warning trill of prairie owl.
From Where the Trail Divides by Will Lillibridge
As the vehicle turned about, the crunching of the wheels started a great gray prairie owl, which rose almost beneath the horses' noses and flapped slowly off.
From The Girl at the Halfway House A Story of the Plains by Emerson Hough
In the lull, the soft night-breeze crooned its minor song, while near or far away—no human ear could measure the distance—a prairie owl gave its weird cry.
From Ben Blair The Story of a Plainsman by Will Lillibridge
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.