chickenhawk
See also: chicken hawk
English
editEtymology
editchicken + hawk. The political sense is derived from figurative meanings of "chicken" (coward) and "hawk" (militarist).
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪkɪnˌhɔk/
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
editchickenhawk (plural chickenhawks)
- Any of the North American hawk species (Cooper's hawk, sharp-shinned hawk and red-tailed hawk), or counterparts elsewhere, mistakenly believed to be pests.
- (US politics, derogatory) A draft dodger, especially in the Vietnam War, who nonetheless currently supports United States overseas military engagements.
- (derogatory, gay slang) An older, usually more powerful man who preys on adolescent boys for sex.
- 1985 August 24, Mark McHarry, “Adult/Youth Sex as Fiction, Fact, and Fate”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 7, page 8:
- For every instance of Saul's good-humoredly putting one over on the criminal justice system […] to free his younger lover from his latest legal trouble, Rogers recounts callous treatment at the hands of the older man. In addition, Sinbad suffers brutal depredations from the city's other chicken hawks.
Translations
edithawk species
|
adult man who seeks out boys as his sexual partners
|
References
edit- “chickenhawk”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Categories:
- English compound terms
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *keh₂p-
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- American English
- en:Politics
- English derogatory terms
- English gay slang
- English terms with quotations
- en:Birds of prey
- en:Buteos
- en:Crime
- en:Male people
- en:People
- en:Sex
- en:Vietnam War