Inherited from Middle English hauk, hauke, hawke, havek, from Old English hafoc, from Proto-West Germanic *habuk, from Proto-Germanic *habukaz, controversially derived from Proto-Indo-European *kopuǵos, perhaps ultimately derived from *kap- (“seize”). Cognate with West Frisian hauk, German Low German Haavke, Dutch havik, German Habicht, Swedish hök, Danish høg, Norwegian Bokmål hauk, Norwegian Nynorsk hauk, Faroese heykur, Icelandic haukur, Finnish haukka, Estonian haugas; also Latin capys, capus (“bird of prey”), Albanian gabonjë, shkabë (“eagle”), Russian ко́бец (kóbec, “falcon”), Polish kobuz (“Eurasian Hobby”)).
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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.
He made his hawke to fly, With hogeous showte and cry.c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 63, lines 47–48:
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Any diurnal predatory terrestrial bird of similar size and appearance to the accipitrid hawks, such as a falcon.
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Biology, Entomology, Natural sciences Any of various species of dragonfly of the genera Apocordulia and Austrocordulia, endemic to Australia.
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Government, Politics An advocate of aggressive political positions and actions.
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.1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 106:
“Everybody knows who were the hawks and who were the doves,” Bundy told the ExComm on the morning of October 28, after Khrushchev announced that he was withdrawing his missiles. “Today was the day of the doves.”2012 October 11 [1962], Michael Dobbs, quoting McGeorge Bundy, “The original hawks and doves”, in Foreign Policy:
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President Donald Trump has spent years playing the role of a China hawk.2019, “The World in 2020”, in The Economist:
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Computing, Engineering, Game theory, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences An uncooperative or purely selfish participant in an exchange or game, especially when untrusting, acquisitive or treacherous. Refers specifically to the prisoner's dilemma, a.k.a. the Hawk-Dove game.
Especially Chicago; and nationwide in African-American; especially Chicago; and nationwide in African-American
[…] take-out sandwich from Arnie's on Jackson, then a brisk walk to Michigan Avenue in the face of the "Hawk," blowing newspapers and skirts and the gulls wheeling over the Michigan Avenue Bridge in front of […]2000 September 26, William Anderson, A Season of Flames, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 27:
[…] a hand-fired coal furnace that required little attention and kept the cottage coy in spite of "the hawk" blowing icy blasts outside. So in spite of Thumper's continuing discomfort we enjoyed a fairly merry Christmas. But then the base daily bulletin was published with the roster of OGs (officers of the guard) for the[…]2002 June 25, Charles W. Dryden, A-Train: Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman, University of Alabama Press, →ISBN, page 215:
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I wanna learn by Ruby's birthday party." Pride turned up his collar against the hawk blowing from the river."2007 December 1, Gay G. Gunn, Pride and Joi, Kensington Books, →ISBN, page 47:
[…] in Chicago […] I can't help but love winter and fall. Mostly fall, because fuck snow, and that hawk blowing off the lake is enough to make your teeth drop right out of your skull , but winter can be kind of okay if it doesn't snow a whole lot and no one asks me to go sledding or do some other Hallmark-movie nonsense.2017 May 30, Samantha Irby, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.: Essays, Vintage, →ISBN, page 95:
Inherited from Middle English hauk, hauke, hawke, havek, from Old English hafoc, from Proto-West Germanic *habuk, from Proto-Germanic *habukaz, controversially derived from Proto-Indo-European *kopuǵos, perhaps ultimately derived from *kap- (“seize”). Cognate with West Frisian hauk, German Low German Haavke, Dutch havik, German Habicht, Swedish hök, Danish høg, Norwegian Bokmål hauk, Norwegian Nynorsk hauk, Faroese heykur, Icelandic haukur, Finnish haukka, Estonian haugas; also Latin capys, capus (“bird of prey”), Albanian gabonjë, shkabë (“eagle”), Russian ко́бец (kóbec, “falcon”), Polish kobuz (“Eurasian Hobby”)).
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To hunt with a hawk.
To hawke, or els to hunt From the auter to the funtc. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 9–10:
He rode astride while hawking; she falconed in the ladylike position of sidesaddle.2003, Brenda Joyce, House of Dreams, page 175:
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To make an attack while on the wing; to soar and strike like a hawk.
to hawk at flies
A falcon, towering in her pride of place, / Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.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, [Act II, scene iv]:
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But whether upward to the moon they go, Or dream the winter out in caves below, Or hawk at flies elsewhere1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
Dollarbirds hawk from high bare branches.1999, Simpson and Day, The Birds of Australia, page 366:
Etymology Uncertain; perhaps from Middle English hache (“battle-axe”), or from a variant use of the above, for this compare with Russian со́кол (sókol, “falcon, but also a hawk (plaster's tool), mortarboard”).
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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.
Etymology Probably imitative, like hock (“cough”), hack (“cough”), although see the latter entry for more.
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A noisy effort to force up phlegm from the throat.
The man gave a rattling hawk in his throat and spat directly between Bond and Leiter.1954, Ian Fleming, “Death of a Pelican”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 139:
hawk
verb
Etymology Probably imitative, like hock (“cough”), hack (“cough”), although see the latter entry for more.
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To expectorate, to cough up (something, such as mucus) from one's throat; to produce (something) by coughing or clearing one's throat.
to hawk a loogie
[I]s a trobled with the cough a the Lunges ſtill? does he hawke anights ſtill?c. 1603 (date written), Iohn Marston, The Malcontent, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for William Aspley, […], published 1604, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii:
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He hawked up, with incredible straining, the interjection ah!1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter 117, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
He had a new tough manner of pulling down breath and hawking into the street.1953 September 18, Saul Bellow, chapter III, in The Adventures of Augie March […], New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC:
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To try to cough up something from one's throat; to clear the throat loudly; to cough heavily, especially causing uvular frication.
Grandpa sat on the front porch, hawking and wheezing, as he packed his pipe with cheap tobacco.