1-Stop Dictionary Reference

Goatsucker

Acceptable For Game Play - US & UK word lists

This word is acceptable for play in the US & UK dictionaries that are being used in the following games:

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. Any of various chiefly nocturnal, insectivorous birds of the family Caprimulgidae, which includes the nighthawk and the whippoorwill.

Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. Any bird in the nightjar family Caprimulgidae

the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. One of several species of insectivorous birds, belonging to Caprimulgus and allied genera, esp. the European species (Caprimulgus Europæus); -- so called from the mistaken notion that it sucks goats. The European species is also goat-milker, goat owl, goat chaffer, fern owl, night hawk, nightjar, night churr, churr-owl, gnat hawk, and dorhawk.

The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. The European night-jar, Caprimulgus europœus: so called from tho vulgar notion that it sucks goats; by extension, any bird of the same genus, or of the family Caprimulgidœ.

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

n. mainly crepuscular or nocturnal nonpasserine birds with mottled greyish-brown plumage and large eyes; feed on insects

Word Usage

"The Nighthawk Chordeiles minoris not a hawk, of course-- it is a "goatsucker" or nightjar, a bird that flies through the night engulfing insects with its great maw like, as Libby says, a whale cruising through plankton."

Hypernym

Words that are more generic or abstract

caprimulgiform bird

Cross Reference

chupacabras chupacabra

Variant

goat-milker goat owl goat chaffer fern owl nighthawk

Hyponym

phalaenoptilus nuttallii caprimulgus europaeus mosquito hawk caprimulgus carolinensis caprimulgus vociferus

Same Context

Words that are found in similar contexts

chikor tinamou scrag those ptarmigan