whippoorwill
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of whippoorwill
An Americanism dating back to 1700–10; imitative
Explanation
A whippoorwill is a medium-sized, brownish or grayish bird with large, dark eyes, and a short bill. Whippoorwills are mainly nocturnal and can be found in North and Central America. It's fairly rare to see a whippoorwill, as it's active at night, or at dusk or dawn, when it comes out to fly and catch insects. The speckled whippoorwill has a somewhat flat head, and it often perches lengthwise on low branches, helping it blend in with the bark. The whippoorwill is a member of the nightjar family—so named because their repetitive calls "jar" the quiet of the night. The name whippoorwill is onomatopoeic: The name mimics the sound the bird makes, with the accent on the first and third syllables, WHIP-poor-WILL. It may repeat this haunting song hundreds of times without pause.
Vocabulary lists containing whippoorwill
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.
The composer Nico Muhly remembered the whippoorwill that sang for his family at dinnertime in rural Vermont and how it shaped his early sense of listening.
From New York Times • May 17, 2022
Klara Soderberg sings about broken hearts as her whippoorwill voice breaks them.
From Chicago Tribune • Aug. 4, 2012
It has thundering piano ostinatos and hummingbird accordion solos, all done incredibly fast, the vocals sometimes reduced to whippoorwill noises and crazed laughter.
From New York Times • Apr. 30, 2010
Evenings had turned cool, and the call of the whippoorwill came sharp and insistent across fields fat with Indiana's richest harvest in years.
From Time Magazine Archive
I curled up in a ball and was almost asleep when a whippoorwill called.
From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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.
