hawk

English

A hawk

Pronunciation

  • (UK) enPR: hôk, IPA(key): /hɔːk/
  • (US) enPR: hôk, IPA(key): /hɔk/
  • (cot–caught merger) enPR: häk, IPA(key): /hɑk/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔːk
  • Homophone: hock (accents with cot-caught merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English hauke, hauk, hawke, havek, from Old English hafoc, heafoc, from Proto-Germanic *habukaz (compare West Frisian hauk, German Low German Haavke, Dutch havik, German Habicht, Norwegian hauk, Faroese heykur, Icelandic haukur), from Proto-Indo-European *kopuǵos (compare Latin capys, capus (“bird of prey”), Albanian gabonjë, shkabë (“eagle”), Russian ко́бец (kóbec, “falcon”), Polish kobuz (“Eurasian Hobby”)), perhaps ultimately derived from *keh₂p- (“seize”).

Noun

hawk (plural hawks)

  1. A diurnal predatory bird of the family Accipitridae, smaller than an eagle.
    It is illegal to hunt hawks or other raptors in many parts of the world.
  2. Any diurnal predatory terrestrial bird of similar size and and appearance to the accipitrid hawks, such as a falcon
  3. (politics) An advocate of aggressive political positions and actions; a warmonger.
    • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 106:
      A hawk by nature, Ellenborough strongly favoured presenting St Petersburg with an ultimatum warning that any further incursions into Persia would be regarded as a hostile act.
  4. (game theory) An uncooperative or purely-selfish participant in an exchange or game, especially when untrusting, acquisitive or treacherous. Refers specifically to the Prisoner's Dilemma, alias the Hawk-Dove game.
Antonyms
  • (politics, game theory): dove
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

References

Verb

hawk (third-person singular simple present hawks, present participle hawking, simple past and past participle hawked)

  1. (transitive) To hunt with a hawk.
    • 2003, Brenda Joyce, House of Dreams, page 175:
      He rode astride while hawking; she falconed in the ladylike position of sidesaddle.
  2. (intransitive) To make an attack while on the wing; to soar and strike like a hawk.
    to hawk at flies
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)
    • Shakespeare
      A falcon, towering in her pride of place, / Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.
Translations
Derived terms
  • hawk after
  • hawk at
  • hawk for
  • hawking

Etymology 2

Uncertain origin; perhaps from Middle English hache (“battle-axe”), or from a variant use of the above.

Noun

hawk (plural hawks)

  1. A plasterer's tool, made of a flat surface with a handle below, used to hold an amount of plaster prior to application to the wall or ceiling being worked on: a mortarboard.
    Synonym: mortarboard
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 3

Back-formation from hawker.

Verb

hawk (third-person singular simple present hawks, present participle hawking, simple past and past participle hawked)

  1. (transitive) To sell; to offer for sale by outcry in the street; to carry (merchandise) about from place to place for sale; to peddle.
    The vendors were hawking their wares from little tables lining either side of the market square.
    • Jonathan Swift
      His works were hawked in every street.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 4

Onomatopoeic.

Noun

hawk (plural hawks)

  1. An effort to force up phlegm from the throat, accompanied with noise.
Synonyms
Translations

Verb

hawk (third-person singular simple present hawks, present participle hawking, simple past and past participle hawked)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To cough up something from one's throat.
  2. (transitive, intransitive) To try to cough up something from one's throat; to clear the throat loudly.
    Grandpa sat on the front porch, hawking and wheezing, as he packed his pipe with cheap tobacco.
Derived terms
Translations

See also

Manx

Noun

hawk

  1. Lenited form of shawk.
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