whippoorwill
nounUS /ˈʍɪp.ɚˌwɪl/ · UK /ˈwɪp.əˌwɪl/
Etymology Imitative of its note.
1
A nocturnal insectivorous bird of North America (Antrostomus vociferus, syn. Caprimulgus vociferus), a type of nightjar, named after its characteristic call.
- “Seems like I heard a whippoorwill callinʼ, and I thought to myself, Go on away from here, weʼll whip ole Will when we find him.”1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 55:
2
The distinctive call of the above bird.
- The bird sang his whippoorwills all night.
- From across the road a bird sang 'Whippoorwill, whippoorwill!'2023 December 12, Timothy C. Baker, Reading My Mother Back: A Memoir in Childhood Animal Stories, MIT Press, →ISBN:
2 more examples
- Somewhere in the darkness a few cold-sounding frogs lamented the lost summer, and the bird which the Chippewa called muck-a-wiss sang whippoorwill.1959, Thomas William Duncan, Big River, Big Man:
- For I'm sure 'tis a bird that now sings 'Whippoorwill, Whippoorwill, whippoorwill, whippoorwill, whippoorwill!'1857, Grace Greenwood, The Little Pilgrim, page 91:
- Derived terms
- eastern whippoorwill, Mexican whippoorwill
- Related terms
- chuck-will's-widow, nightjar