screech owl
Americannoun
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any of numerous small American owls of the genus Otus, having hornlike tufts of feathers, as O. asio, of eastern North America.
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(not in technical use) any owl having a harsh cry, especially the barn owl.
noun
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a small North American owl, Otus asio, having ear tufts and a reddish-brown or grey plumage
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any owl that utters a screeching cry
Etymology
Origin of screech owl
First recorded in 1585–95
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.
This year, the Wildlife Center of Virginia posted on Facebook about an Eastern screech owl that flew into a glue trap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2024
We have horned owls here that would happily eat a screech owl if they could.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2023
It won't take long to feel enamored of the newly adopted member of Carl Safina's family: a baby screech owl.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 1, 2023
But Owl 17-1308 does, which is why Paula Goldberg brought the juvenile Eastern screech owl to Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg, Md., on Tuesday morning.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 18, 2017
All these things were going through my head when I heard a shriek like a screech owl coming from the house.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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.
