Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several nightjars found throughout the Americas, having grayish-brown plumage that mimics leaves on the forest floor, especially Chordeiles minor.
  • noun Informal A night owl.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who prowls about at night; specifically, a night cabman or his cab or horse.
  • noun A caprimulgine bird of the genus Chordeiles.
  • noun The night-jar or goatsucker, Caprimulgus curopæus.
  • noun One of certain petrels of the genus Œstrelata: as, the white night-hawk or mutton-bird, Œ. lessoni.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A person who likes to be active late at night; a night owl.
  • noun (Zoöl.) Any of several mainly nocturnal North American goatsuckers, especially Chordeiles minor, or the related European goatsucker Caprimulgus europaeus, also called the nightjar.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A New World nightjar.
  • noun A person whose preference or custom is to remain awake and active during the night and the early morning hours.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun mainly nocturnal North American goatsucker
  • noun a person who likes to be active late at night

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

night +‎ hawk

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Examples

  • So it should be no surprise that I actually filled out this music survey thingy I found in nighthawk's LJ.

    Dammit...(*sigh*) nighthawk 2001

  • There is a glorious passage by Henry Thoreau of his encounter with a nightjar relative called a nighthawk.

    Country diary: Holt, Norfolk 2011

  • There is a glorious passage by Henry Thoreau of his encounter with a nightjar relative called a nighthawk.

    Country diary: Holt, Norfolk 2011

  • The high-pitched sound is from a soaring insect-eater called a nighthawk.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • The high-pitched sound is from a soaring insect-eater called a nighthawk.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • Think of Walky as a 'nighthawk'! "and Marty, who was a short, freckled-faced boy several years his cousin's junior, went off into a spasm of laughter.

    How Janice Day Won Helen Beecher Long

  • The black nodules of his sprinkler system clicked in the muggy air, and in one of the peeling river birches, a single nighthawk warbled.

    The Landscape of Pleasure 2010

  • She got her start in journalism as nighthawk at the Boston Globe.

    Millennials Are A Real Piece Of Work At Work 2011

  • Wybrcathl floated into the air, a buoyant song, a nighthawk gliding on thermals.

    Etched in Bone Adrian Phoenix 2011

  • I was worried about all the stuff I had to begin to do to find us a new nighthawk.

    My Lesbian Western, chapter one Meg Pokrass 2011

Comments

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  • “The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a stealth ground attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force. The F-117A's first flight was in 1981, and it achieved Initial Operational Capability status in October 1983.�? More on Wikipedia.

    December 30, 2008

  • This was Xander's codename when he and Willow and Cordelia were killing vampire's in Buffy's place after she left Sunnydale after she killed Angel.

    February 25, 2013