different between owl vs orl

English

Etymology

From Middle English oule, owle, from Old English ?le, from Proto-Germanic *uwwal? (compare West Frisian ûle, Dutch uil, Danish and Norwegian ugle, German Eule), diminutive of *uww? (“eagle-owl”) (compare German Uhu), of imitative origin or a variant of *?faz, *?f? (compare Old English ?f or h?f, Swedish uv (“horned owl”), Bavarian Auf), from Proto-Indo-European *up- (compare Latvian ?pis (“eagle-owl”), Czech úp?t (“to wail, howl”), Avestan ????????????????????????????????? (ufiieimi, “to call out”). A Germanic variant *uwwil? was the source of Old High German ?wila (German Eule).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l

Noun

owl (plural owls)

1. Any of various birds of prey of the order Strigiformes that are primarily nocturnal and have forward-looking, binocular vision, limited eye movement, and good hearing. [from 8th c.]
2. (by extension) A person seen as having owl-like characteristics, especially appearing wise or serious, or being nocturnally active. [from 14th c.]

   Antonym: lark

3. The owl pigeon. [from 18th c.]
4. (politics, uncommon) A politician with moderate views that are neither hawkish nor dovish.
5. Any of various nymphalid butterflies having large eyespots on the wings.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• hoot
• to-whit, to-whoo
• whoo

References

Further reading

• owl on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

owl (third-person singular simple present owls, present participle owling, simple past and past participle owled)

1. (archaic, intransitive) To smuggle contraband goods.

Anagrams

• 'low, LOW, Low, WoL, low, low%

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: ôrl, IPA^(key): /??l/
• (US) enPR: ôrl, IPA^(key): /??l/
• Homophone: orle

Etymology 1

Metathetic variant of olr, itself a variant of alr, itself a contraction of aller, itself a form of alder closer to the original Old English form of alor, aler (the d was a phonetic addition in Middle English); compare the English oryelle, as well as the Old High German erila, the Middle High German erle, and the Modern German Erle.

Noun

orl (plural orls)

1. (in some British dialects, now rare) An alder tree.
2. (obsolete, rare, elliptically) orl fly

Derived terms

• orl fly (angling)

References

• “Orl” listed on page 205 of volume VII (O–P) of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles [1st ed., 1909]
  Orl, dial. form of olr, alr, Alder, the tree. [¶] [c 1440, see Oryelle.] 1747 R. Bowlker Art of Angling 27 This Hedge ought to be made chiefly of Orls. 1804 Duncumb Hist. Hereford I. Gloss. (E. D. S.), Orl, the wood alder. [¶] Hence Orl-fly, ellipt. Orl, the alder-fly, Sialis lutarius, used by anglers. [¶] 1747 R. Bowlker Art of Angling 69 The Orle Fly..is the best Fly to Fish with after the May Flyes are gone. 1787 Best Angling (ed. 2) 115 The Orl fly comes on the latter end of May and continues on till the latter end of June. 1875 W. Houghton Brit. Insects 64 The well-known orl or Alder-fly (Sialis lutarius).
• “orl” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary (second edition, 1989)
• “orl, n.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary (third edition, September 2004)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation spelling.

Adverb

orl (not comparable)

1. Pronunciation spelling of all.

   That’s orl right.

Anagrams

• LRO, Lor, lor