night owl
/ˈnaɪt ˌaʊl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.86 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
1
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
One who goes to bed late, or stays up late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
noun
A musical instrument which imitates an owl's hoot, consisting of a receptacle partly filled with water and a mouthpiece that is blown into.
Example Sentences
- "Their Weapons like to Lightning, came and went: / Our Souldiers like the Night-Owles lazie flight, / Or like a lazie Threſher with a Flaile, / Fell gently downe, as if they ſtrucke their Friends."
- "For nightowles ſhreeke where mounting larkes ſhould ſing."
- "A night owl beat her pinions 'gainſt my head, / 'Till o' the ground I fell, wi' fright near dead!"
- "The well imitated cry of the night-owl, too frequent a guest in the wilderness that its call should be a subject of surprise, seemed to be a signal generally understood among them; [...]"
- "In the ruined chamber, which was but scantily lighted by a small grated window, he perceived a large night owl, seated upon the floor. Big tears rolled from her large, brown eyes, and with a hoarse voice she sent forth her lamentations from her curved beak."
- "Wild waileth the night-wind through turret and hall, / Where the spider weaveth the funeral pall, / And voice of old from the dead Past call, / While the night-owl responds from the crumbling old wall, / Tu-whit! the midnight is murky and drear— / Tu-whoo! the deed is a deed of fear."
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈnaɪt ˌaʊl/
- British English: /ˈnaɪt aʊl/