caw
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
abbreviation
Etymology
Origin of caw
First recorded in 1580–90; imitative
Explanation
To caw is to make a loud cry or call, like the sound a crow makes. There are few things spookier than hearing fifty crows caw in your yard at night. Many large birds caw as a way of communicating with each other, but crows and ravens are best known for making this particular cry. You can call the actual sound a caw as well. The word has been around since the 16th century, when it arose as an imitation of the noise itself.
Vocabulary lists containing caw
Essential Three-Letter Words, Part 3
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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
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This Was Our Pact
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Meyers was greeted each morning by a green parrot named Pesto, who became the shop’s mascot and would caw, “Hellllow!”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 4, 2025
Carrion crows can count out loud, effectively calling “one, two, three” as they caw, researchers report today in Science.
From Science Magazine • May 22, 2024
Seagulls, protecting their trashy turf, caw in the air, and public buses — which often break down, sometimes explode, but rarely arrive on time — screech on the ground.
From New York Times • Dec. 24, 2018
Forty-seven miles west of Barry and Po’s yard, seagulls caw and circle the property that was once Pungo district hospital.
From The Guardian • May 25, 2018
She matched her words so perfectly that the speech was not a speech at all, but one creature’s voice in the wild, as natural as a raven’s caw or a coyote’s howl at midnight.
From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
