n. A diurnal bird of prey which does not habitually feed upon carrion: contrasted with owl and with vulture.n. With a specifying term, some bird that hawks for its prey on the wing.n. Synonyms Hawk, Falcon. Hawk is the most general and indefinite name of a bird of prey. It seems to have at first distinguished the birds so designated from carrion-feeding kinds and from those that prey by night (vultures and owls), and then to have been applied to those which could be trained—that is, used in the sport of hawking or falconry. Its nearest synonym is falcon; and since all hawks were formerly placed in one genus, Falco, hawk and falcon became interchangeable book-names for most members of the family Falconidæ. But, again, the hawks used in falconry were of two series, respectively designated noble and ignoble, corresponding to two technical subfamilies of Falconidæ. The name falcon became, therefore, technically restricted to the former of these series, the subfamily Falconinæ, while hawk was coincidently applied to the other, Accipitrinæ, alone.To hunt birds or small animals by means of hawks or falcons trained for the purpose; practise hawking; engage in falconry.To fly in the manner of the hawk; soar; take prey in the air.To offer for sale by outcry in a street or other public place, or from door to door; convey through town or country for sale: as, to hawk brooms or ballads.To make an effort to raise phlegm from the throat.To raise by hawking: as, to hawk up phlegm.n. An effort to raise phlegm from the throat.n. In building, a small quadrangular board with a handle underneath, used by plasterers to hold the mortar.n. A double-hooked instrument for drawing or moving about the cloth in the dyeing-liquor of a hawking-machine.To draw or to pull with a hawk, as cloth through the dye-vat of a hawking-machine.