owlet

owlet

English

Etymology

From owl +‎ -et. Compare howlet.

Noun

owlet (plural owlets)

1. Diminutive of owl
   • c. 1590 (date written)​, G[eorge] P[eele], The Old Wiues Tale. […], London: […] Iohn Danter, for Raph Hancocke, and Iohn Hardie, […], published 1595, OCLC 1154964007:

     And in faith Sir unlesse your hospitalitie doe releeve us, wee are like to wander with a sorrowfull hey ho, among the owlets, & Hobgoblins of the Forrest […]

   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:

     Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
     Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,
     For a charm of powerful trouble,
     Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Fears in Solitude, London: J. Johnson, pp. 4-5,

     […] and bold with joy,

     Forth from his dark and lonely hiding-place

     (Portentous sight) the owlet, ATHEISM,

     Sailing on obscene wings athwart the noon,

     Drops his blue-fringed lids, and holds them close,

     And, hooting at the glorious sun in heaven,

     Cries out, “where is it?”

2. A young owl; owling.
3. One of a species of small owls, such as Athene noctua.
4. An owlet moth.

Synonyms

• owling, howlet, houlet

Derived terms

• owlet moth (Noctuidae)
• long-whiskered owlet (Xenoglaux loweryi)

Translations

a young owl

Dutch: uilskuiken (nl) n French: jeune hibou m, (with tufted ears) jeune chouette f Georgian: ბუს ბახალა (bus baxala) German: Eulenjunges n, junge Eule f Russian: совёнок (ru) m (sovjónok) Slovak: sôvä n Swedish: uggleunge (sv) c Volapük: (♂♀) lülül, (♂) hilülül, (♀) jilülül

References

• owlet in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• Towle, towel