howlet

American  

[hou-lit] / ˈhaʊ lɪt /

noun

British Dialect.

1. an owl or owlet.

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howlet British  

/ ˈhaʊlɪt /

noun

1. archaic another word for owl

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Etymology

Origin of howlet

1425–75; late Middle English; perhaps < French hulotte wood-owl, perhaps derivative of Middle French huler to howl < Germanic; howl

Example Sentences

As I stood by yon roofless tower, Where the wa'flower scents the dewy air, Where the howlet mourns in her ivy bower, And tells the midnight moon her care.

From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Burns, Robert

Then he sits on the stair, rapping with his tail on a board, and his back-aspect was dreader than his front; and a howlet lit in, and screeched at the horns of him.

From Puck of Pook’s Hill by Rackham, Arthur

And there was grave squire Cardoness, Look'd on till a' was done; Sae in the tower o' Cardoness A howlet sits at noon.

From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Burns, Robert

Umph!" answered the King—"but you have never seen my daughter Joan.—A howlet, man!—an absolute owl, whom I am ashamed of!

From Quentin Durward by Scott, Walter, Sir

"But I was not thinking of going there to-night," she added, and the howlet in the bush beside me hooted at my ignominy.

From John Splendid The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn by Munro, Neil