whippoorwill

See also: whip-poor-will

English

Alternative forms

• whip-poor-will, whippowill, whip-o-will, whip-o'-will

whippoorwill

Etymology

Imitative of its note.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʍɪp.ɚˌwɪl/, /ˈwɪp.ɚˌwɪl/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪp.əˌwɪl/
• Hyphenation: whip‧poor‧will

Noun

whippoorwill (plural whippoorwills)

1. A nocturnal insectivorous bird of North America (Antrostomus vociferus, syn. Caprimulgus vociferus), a type of nightjar, named after its characteristic call.
   • 1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 55:

     “Seems like I heard a whippoorwill callinʼ, and I thought to myself, Go on away from here, weʼll whip ole Will when we find him.”

2. The distinctive call of the above bird.

   The bird sang his whippoorwills all night.

Derived terms

• eastern whippoorwill (Antrostomus vociferus)
• Mexican whippoorwill (Antrostomus arizonae)

Translations

bird

• Bulgarian: американски козодой m (amerikanski kozodoj)
• Cherokee: ᏍᏆᎴᏩᎵ (squalewali)
• Finnish: amerikankehrääjä (fi)
• French: bois-pourri
• German: Schwarzkehl-Nachtschwalbe f
• Italian: caprimulgo (it) m, succiacapre (it) m
• Latin: caprimulgus m
• Navajo: hoshdódii
• Romanian: caprimulg (ro) m
• Spanish: cuerporruín
• Swedish: skriknattskärra

See also

• chuck-will's-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis)

References

• “whippoorwill”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.