different between sparrow vs hawk

English

Etymology

From Middle English sparwe, sparowe, from Old English spearwa, from Proto-West Germanic *sparw?, from Proto-Germanic *sparwô, from Proto-Indo-European *sp?r (“sparrow”).

Cognate with Dutch spreeuw (“starling”), Alemannic German Spar (“sparrow”), German Sperling (“sparrow”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål spurv (“sparrow”), Norwegian Nynorsk sporv (“sparrow”), Swedish sparv (“sparrow”), Breton frao (“crow”), Tocharian A sp?r?ñ, Ancient Greek ??? (psár, “starling”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?spæ???/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?spæ?o?/, /?sp??o?/
• (Mary–marry–merry distinction)
• (Mary–marry–merry merger)
• Rhymes: -ær??

Noun

sparrow (plural sparrows)

1. The house sparrow, Passer domesticus; a small bird with a short bill, and brown, white and gray feathers.
2. A member of the family Passeridae, comprising small Old World songbirds.
3. A member of the family Emberizidae, comprising small New World songbirds.
4. Generically, any small, nondescript bird.
5. (Britain, chiefly London) A quick-witted, lively person. Often used in the phrase cockney sparrow.
   • 2005, Drama Faces: Martine McCutcheon, BBC

     Professional cockney sparrow Martine has acted since childhood.

   • 1878, Ally Sloper's guide to the Paris exhibition, Charles Henry Ross, page 54:

     I take it there 's scarcely a happier fellow alive than your honest town-bred smoke-dried cockney sparrow.

Synonyms

• spadger, sparra, spoggy, spuggy

Derived terms

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: hôk, IPA^(key): /h??k/
• (US) enPR: hôk, IPA^(key): /h?k/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: häk, IPA^(key): /h?k/
• Rhymes: -??k
• Homophone: hock (accents with cot-caught merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English hauk, hauke, hawke, havek, from Old English hafoc (“hawk”), from Proto-West Germanic *habuk, from Proto-Germanic *habukaz (compare West Frisian hauk, German Low German Haavke, Dutch havik, German Habicht, Norwegian hauk, Faroese heykur, Icelandic haukur), from Proto-Indo-European *kopu?os (compare Latin capys, capus (“bird of prey”), Albanian gabonjë, shkabë (“eagle”), Russian ?????? (kóbec, “falcon”), Polish kobuz (“Eurasian Hobby”)), perhaps ultimately derived from *keh?p- (“seize”).

Noun

hawk (plural hawks)

1. A diurnal predatory bird of the family Accipitridae, smaller than an eagle.

2. Any diurnal predatory terrestrial bird of similar size and appearance to the accipitrid hawks, such as a falcon.
3. (entomology) Any of various species of dragonfly of the genera Apocordulia and Austrocordulia, endemic to Australia.
4. (politics) An advocate of aggressive political positions and actions. [from 1962]

   Synonyms: warmonger, war hawk

   Antonym: dove

   • 1962, McGeorge Bundy[1]:

     Everybody knows who were the hawks and who were the doves.

   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 106:

     A hawk by nature, Ellenborough strongly favoured presenting St Petersburg with an ultimatum warning that any further incursions into Persia would be regarded as a hostile act.

   • 2019, "The World in 2020", The Economist:

     President Donald Trump has spent years playing the role of a China hawk.

5. (game theory) An uncooperative or purely-selfish participant in an exchange or game, especially when untrusting, acquisitive or treacherous. Refers specifically to the Prisoner's Dilemma, alias the Hawk-Dove game.

   Antonym: dove

Hyponyms

Related terms

Derived terms

Related terms

• creshawk
• goshawk
• sparhawk

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: aka

Translations

Verb

hawk (third-person singular simple present hawks, present participle hawking, simple past and past participle hawked)

1. (transitive) To hunt with a hawk.
2. (intransitive) To make an attack while on the wing; to soar and strike like a hawk.

   • But whether upward to the moon they go, Or dream the winter out in caves below, Or hawk at flies elsewhere

Translations

Derived terms

• hawk after
• hawk at
• hawk for
• hawker
• hawking

Etymology 2

Uncertain origin; perhaps from Middle English hache (“battle-axe”), or from a variant use of the above.

Noun

hawk (plural hawks)

1. A plasterer's tool, made of a flat surface with a handle below, used to hold an amount of plaster prior to application to the wall or ceiling being worked on: a mortarboard.

   Synonym: mortarboard

Derived terms

• hawk boy, hawk-boy

Translations

Etymology 3

Back-formation from hawker.

Verb

hawk (third-person singular simple present hawks, present participle hawking, simple past and past participle hawked)

1. (transitive) To sell; to offer for sale by outcry in the street; to carry (merchandise) about from place to place for sale; to peddle.

   The vendors were hawking their wares from little tables lining either side of the market square.

   • 1713, Jonathan Swift, Imitation of Horace, Book I. Ep. VII.

     His works were hawked in every street.

Derived terms

• hawked
• hawkery
• hawking
• hawky

Related terms

• hawker

Translations

Etymology 4

Onomatopoeic.

Noun

hawk (plural hawks)

1. A noisy effort to force up phlegm from the throat.

Synonyms

• hawking (noun)

Translations

Verb

hawk (third-person singular simple present hawks, present participle hawking, simple past and past participle hawked)

2. (transitive, intransitive) To expectorate, to cough up something from one's throat.
   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, I. xvi. 117

     He hawked up, with incredible straining, the interjection ah!

   • 1953, Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March, Viking Press, chapter 3:

     He had a new tough manner of pulling down breath and hawking into the street.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To try to cough up something from one's throat; to clear the throat loudly.

Derived terms

• hawking (noun)

Translations

See also

• Hawkshaw, hawkshaw
• Hawkubite
• winkle-hawk

Further reading

• hawk on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Manx

Noun

hawk

1. Lenited form of shawk.