HAWK

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does hawk mean? 

• HAWK (noun)
  The noun HAWK has 3 senses:

1. diurnal bird of prey typically having short rounded wings and a long tail

2. an advocate of an aggressive policy on foreign relations

3. a square board with a handle underneath; used by masons to hold or carry mortar

  Familiarity information: HAWK used as a noun is uncommon.

• HAWK (verb)
  The verb HAWK has 3 senses:

1. sell or offer for sale from place to place

2. hunt with hawks

3. clear mucus or food from one's throat

  Familiarity information: HAWK used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HAWK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Diurnal bird of prey typically having short rounded wings and a long tail

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("hawk" is a kind of...):

bird of prey; raptor; raptorial bird (any of numerous carnivorous birds that hunt and kill other animals)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hawk"):

Buteo lagopus; rough-legged hawk; roughleg (large hawk of the northern hemisphere that feeds chiefly on small rodents and is beneficial to farmers)

fish eagle; fish hawk; osprey; Pandion haliaetus; sea eagle (large harmless hawk found worldwide that feeds on fish and builds a bulky nest often occupied for years)

falcon (diurnal birds of prey having long pointed powerful wings adapted for swift flight)

harrier eagle; short-toed eagle (any of numerous large Old World hawks intermediate in some respects between typical hawks and typical eagles)

harrier (hawks that hunt over meadows and marshes and prey on small terrestrial animals)

kite (any of several small graceful hawks of the family Accipitridae having long pointed wings and feeding on insects and small animals)

honey buzzard; Pernis apivorus (Old World hawk that feeds on bee larvae and small rodents and reptiles)

Buteo buteo; buzzard (the common European short-winged hawk)

Buteo lineatus; red-shouldered hawk (North American hawk with reddish brown shoulders)

Buteo jamaicensis; red-tailed hawk; redtail (dark brown American hawk species having a reddish-brown tail)

buteonine (any hawk of the genus Buteo)

chicken hawk; hen hawk (nontechnical term for any hawks said to prey on poultry)

Accipiter cooperii; blue darter; Cooper's hawk (bluish-grey North American hawk having a darting flight)

Accipiter nisus; sparrow hawk (small hawk of Eurasia and northern Africa)

Accipiter gentilis; goshawk (large hawk of Eurasia and North America used in falconry)

tercel; tercelet; tiercel (male hawk especially male peregrine or gyrfalcon)

eyas (an unfledged or nestling hawk)

Holonyms ("hawk" is a member of...):

Accipitridae; family Accipitridae (hawks; Old World vultures; kites; harriers; eagles)

Derivation:

hawk (hunt with hawks)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An advocate of an aggressive policy on foreign relations

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

hawk; war hawk

Hypernyms ("hawk" is a kind of...):

militarist; warmonger (a person who advocates war or warlike policies)

Antonym:

dove (someone who prefers negotiations to armed conflict in the conduct of foreign relations)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A square board with a handle underneath; used by masons to hold or carry mortar

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

hawk; mortarboard

Hypernyms ("hawk" is a kind of...):

board (a flat piece of material designed for a special purpose)

• HAWK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they hawk    ... he / she / it hawks   
Past simple: hawked   
Past participle: hawked   
-ing form: hawking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sell or offer for sale from place to place

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

hawk; huckster; monger; peddle; pitch; vend

Hypernyms (to "hawk" is one way to...):

deal; sell; trade (do business; offer for sale as for one's livelihood)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

hawker (someone who travels about selling his wares (as on the streets or at carnivals))

hawking (the act of selling goods for a living)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hunt with hawks

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Context example:

the tribes like to hawk in the desert

Hypernyms (to "hawk" is one way to...):

hunt; hunt down; run; track down (pursue for food or sport (as of wild animals))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

In the summer they like to go out and hawk

Derivation:

hawk (diurnal bird of prey typically having short rounded wings and a long tail)

hawker (a person who breeds and trains hawks and who follows the sport of falconry)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Clear mucus or food from one's throat

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

clear the throat; hawk

Context example:

he cleared his throat before he started to speak

Hypernyms (to "hawk" is one way to...):

cough (exhale abruptly, as when one has a chest cold or congestion)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

Then hey for home, and no more hawking to-day!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The hawk had eaten the ptarmigan-mother.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

For snowshoe hares and 20 other species across the northern hemisphere, the white winter coats that once rendered them nearly invisible to predators now make them conspicuous to lynx, foxes, weasels and hawks.

(Twenty-one species adapted to disappear in the snow. Then, the snow disappeared, National Science Foundation)

Who on all the country side, save only Boy Jim, would have swung himself over Wolstonbury Cliff, and clambered down a hundred feet with the mother hawk flapping at his ears in the vain struggle to hold him from her nest?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So a big pigeon pie was brought in and put on a sidetable, and I made a hearty supper, for I was as hungry as a hawk, while Mr. Dance was further complimented and at last dismissed.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

From that time forth, no one would any longer venture into the forest, and it lay there in deep stillness and solitude, and nothing was seen of it, but sometimes an eagle or a hawk flying over it.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

It was the same when he challenged the hawk down out of the sky.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

So she prattled on to her hawk, while Alleyne walked by her side, stealing a glance from time to time at this queenly and wayward woman.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The day may come when it may look back regretfully to the snug nest in the thornbush, but what does it reck of that when spring is in the air and youth in its blood, and the old hawk of trouble has not yet darkened the sunshine with the ill-boding shadow of its wings?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A hawk, driving down out of the blue, had barely missed him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)