hawk
Pluralhawks
Pluralhawks
- 1A bird of prey that hunts by day, smaller than an eagle, with a hooked beak and strong claws; loosely, any similar bird such as a falcon.
The hawk dropped from the sky and seized a rabbit in its talons.
Falconers often prefer hawks for hunting small game.
Note
Middle English spelled it hauk, hauke, hawke or havek, and John Skelton still writes of making "his hawke to fly." The street seller and the throat-clearing come from other sources entirely.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The listed Middle English spellings are attested forms. en.wiktionary.org
- John Skelton used the quoted words. otago.ac.nz
- The selling and throat-clearing senses have separate origins from the bird word. en.wiktionary.org
- 2To sell goods by carrying them from place to place or calling out for buyers in the street.
Street sellers hawk souvenirs to tourists near the cathedral.
She hawked homemade jam at every market in the county.
UsageTakes the goods as its object, often with to for the buyers: hawk souvenirs to tourists.
Similarpeddle, sell, vend, tout, flog
Oppositebuy
Note
Despite the spelling, this is a different word, and no bird stands behind it. It is a back-formation from hawker, the noun for a street seller. The pattern is old, and Jonathan Swift wrote in 1713 that "his works were hawk'd in ev'ry street."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The selling verb has an origin separate from the bird word. en.wiktionary.org
- The selling verb is a back-formation from hawker. en.wiktionary.org
- Swift's poem containing the example was first published in 1713. publish.uwo.ca
- 3A person who favors aggressive or warlike political policies, especially the use of military force.
The defense secretary was known as a hawk who never shied away from threatening force.
Congressional hawks demanded tougher sanctions and a larger army.
UsageOften contrasted with dove. A noun before it often names the target: a China hawk.
Similarwarmonger
Oppositedove
Note
Politics gave the bird of prey to the person who would rather strike, and set it against the dove. The pairing was already settled in 1962. McGeorge Bundy told the ExComm, after Khrushchev announced he would withdraw his missiles, that "today was the day of the doves." War hawk and warmonger stand nearby, and warmonger is the harsher word.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The political metaphor derives from the predatory bird and contrasts hawks with doves. en.wikipedia.org
- The political hawk–dove pairing was established by 1962. history.state.gov
- 4Someone who favors strict economic policy, such as raising interest rates to keep inflation down or cutting government deficits.
Hawks on the central bank's board pushed for another rate hike despite signs of slowing growth.
As a lifelong deficit hawk, the senator refused to back any spending bill without matching cuts.
UsageOften in compounds like deficit hawk and inflation hawk; the adjective is hawkish, the opposite dovish.
Oppositedove
Note
An extension of the political hawk that keeps dove as its opposite: hawks on a central bank press for higher interest rates, doves for lower ones. The adjectives hawkish and dovish describe a speech or a vote as well as a person. Compounds name the target, as in deficit hawk and inflation hawk: the noun before hawk is what the person wants kept down.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The economic sense of hawk extends the political sense referring to someone favoring war or confrontation. bis.org
- 5To hunt or catch prey while flying, either by pursuing insects through the air or by swooping to strike from above.
A flycatcher sat on the fence post, darting out now and then to hawk passing insects before returning to its perch.
Nighthawks hawk for moths in the glow of the streetlights.
Similarhunt
Note
Here the hawk is the model for the action rather than a partner in the hunt. The verb usually takes at. Shakespeare's falcon in Macbeth was "by a mousing owl hawked at and killed," and Dryden's creatures "hawk at flies." Bird writers also use it without at, for catching insects in flight. Simpson and Day's Field Guide to the Birds of Australia notes that "Dollarbirds hawk from high bare branches."
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Shakespeare's Macbeth contains the quoted description of a falcon; the Old Man speaks the line. folger.edu
- Dryden uses the words 'hawk at flies' about birds in The Hind and the Panther. en.wikisource.org
- Field Guide to the Birds of Australia is credited to Simpson and Day. openlibrary.org
- The Simpson and Day guide contains the quoted sentence about dollarbirds. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 6To clear the throat noisily, or to bring up phlegm from the throat by coughing.
The old man hawked phlegm into a handkerchief.
With a bad chest cold, you may hawk up thick phlegm every morning.
UsageUsually with up: hawk up phlegm. The slang phrase hawk a loogie means to spit it out.
Note
The verb of the noisy throat-clearing brings something up. Smollett's character in Peregrine Pickle "hawked up, with incredible straining, the interjection ah!", where the comedy lies in a word coming up instead of phlegm. Slang supplies the fixed phrase hawk a loogie. Without an object it means to clear the throat noisily, often with spitting, as in Saul Bellow's "hawking into the street."
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Tobias Smollett wrote Peregrine Pickle. gutenberg.org
- The novel describes a character hawking up the interjection 'ah!', treating an utterance as something brought up from his throat. gutenberg.org
- The words 'hawking into the street' occur in Saul Bellow's writing, in The Adventures of Augie March, chapter III. en.wiktionary.org
- 7A noisy attempt to force phlegm up from the throat.
Without a word, the fisherman let out a rough hawk, spat over the side of the boat, and went back to mending his net.
Every morning began the same way for my grandfather: a cough, a deep hawk to clear his chest, and then his first cup of coffee.
Note
The noun probably imitates the sound it names, much like hock and hack, both of which mean a cough, and it has no link to the bird. Hawking describes the habit or the continuing noise.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Hock can mean a cough. en.wiktionary.org
- Hack can mean a cough. en.wiktionary.org
- The throat-clearing word has a separate etymology from the bird word. en.wiktionary.org
- 8To hunt game by using a trained hawk to catch it.
Medieval lords hawked herons from horseback.
Falconers still hawk grouse on the northern moors.
Note
Falconry's verb can take the quarry as its object, as in hawking grouse, but it can also be used with no object or with at. It is an old verb, and John Skelton pairs "to hawke, or els to hunt." Brenda Joyce's House of Dreams (2000) sets it beside its near twin: "He rode astride while hawking; she falconed in the ladylike position of sidesaddle." Falcon can work as a verb too; the sport is called falconry or hawking.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Hawk is an old verb, attested in John Skelton's writing. en.wiktionary.org
- John Skelton wrote the quoted pairing of hawking and hunting. gutenberg.org
- House of Dreams is by Brenda Joyce and was first published in 2000. openlibrary.org
- House of Dreams contains the quotation juxtaposing hawking and falconing. en.wiktionary.org
- 9A cold, sharp, biting wind, particularly the brutal one that blows through Chicago in winter.
The hawk came howling off the lake and emptied the streets.
Folks in Chicago know the hawk arrives long before the first snow.
Note
Chicago's winter wind has a name and usually a definite article. People walk "in the face of the Hawk" or turn up a collar "against the hawk blowing from the river." The word belongs to Chicago speech and to African-American usage more widely. Samantha Irby says that hawk off the lake can make your teeth drop out.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The phrase 'in the face of the Hawk' occurs in a description of walking in Chicago. en.wiktionary.org
- The quoted river-wind phrase occurs with someone turning up his collar. en.wiktionary.org
- Samantha Irby describes the hawk blowing off the lake as enough to make one's teeth drop out. en.wiktionary.org
- 10A flat, square board with a handle beneath it, used by plasterers to hold plaster before applying it to a wall or ceiling.
He loaded the hawk with fresh plaster and climbed the scaffold.
A good plasterer keeps the hawk close to the wall to catch any drips.
Similarmortarboard
Note
The plasterer's word has an uncertain origin. It may come from Middle English hache, a battle-axe, or it may simply be the bird's name put to a new use. Russian offers a parallel: sokol means "falcon" and also names this same handheld board. On site, mortarboard is the common alternative name.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- The plasterer's term has an uncertain origin, possibly from Middle English hache, meaning battle-axe. en.wiktionary.org
- The tool's name may instead derive from the bird's name. en.wikipedia.org
- Russian sokol means falcon. en.wiktionary.org
- Russian sokol also names the plasterer's board. en.wiktionary.org
- Mortarboard is an alternative name for the tool. en.wiktionary.org
- 11A purely self-interested, uncooperative participant in an exchange or game, especially one who is distrustful, grasping, or treacherous, as in the Hawk-Dove game.
- 12Any of several dragonfly species of the genera Apocordulia and Austrocordulia, found only in Australia.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English hauk, from Old English hafoc ("hawk"), from Proto-West Germanic *habuk and Proto-Germanic *habukaz. It is controversially traced to Proto-Indo-European *kopuǵos, perhaps ultimately from *keh₂p- ("seize"), with cognates such as Dutch havik, German Habicht, and Swedish hök.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 8 facts
- Hawk descends from Middle English hauk, from Old English hafoc. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English hafoc means hawk. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English hafoc descends from Proto-West Germanic *habuk. en.wiktionary.org
- Proto-West Germanic *habuk descends from Proto-Germanic *habukaz. en.wiktionary.org
- A controversial derivation traces the word to Proto-Indo-European *kopuǵos. en.wiktionary.org
- An ultimate derivation from a root meaning seize is proposed as possible. en.wiktionary.org
- *keh₂p- is an alternative reconstruction of *kap-, meaning seize. en.wiktionary.org
- Dutch havik, German Habicht, and Swedish hök are cognates. en.wiktionary.org
The origin is uncertain. One idea is Middle English hache, a "battle-axe." Another is that the bird name was simply put to a new use, much as Russian со́кол (sókol) means "falcon" yet also names a plasterer's tool.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- The origin of hawk meaning a plasterer's tool is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
- One proposed origin is Middle English hache, meaning battle-axe. en.wiktionary.org
- Another proposed origin is a transferred use of the bird name. en.wiktionary.org
- Russian со́кол (sókol) means falcon. en.wiktionary.org
- Russian со́кол also names a plasterer's tool. en.wiktionary.org
A back-formation from hawker.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Hawk, meaning to sell or peddle, is a back-formation from hawker. en.wiktionary.org
Probably imitative, like hock ("cough") and hack ("cough").
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Hawk in the coughing sense is probably imitative in origin, comparable to hock and hack. en.wiktionary.org
- Hock has a coughing sense. en.wiktionary.org
- Hack has a coughing sense. en.wiktionary.org