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

See Examples For:

howlet

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 Robert Burns

Here is another howlet for ye!" exclaimed the impetuous old Knight; "his mother speaks to a Puritan of charity; and thou must talk of law to a round-headed rebel, with a wannion to you!

From Peveril of the Peak by Sir Walter Scott

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)

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 Alexander Whyte

And there was grave squire Cardoness, Look'd on till a' was done; Sae in the tower o' Cardoness A howlet sits at noon.

From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns