Definition of "hawk"

hawk¹

/hɔːk/

noun
plural hawks
1. A diurnal predatory bird of the family Accipitridae, smaller than an eagle.
  Quotations
  He made his hawke to fly,With hogeous showte and cry.
  c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, page 63, lines 47–48
2. Any diurnal predatory terrestrial bird of similar size and appearance to the accipitrid hawks, such as a falcon.
3. (entomology) Any of various species of dragonfly of the genera Apocordulia and Austrocordulia, endemic to Australia.
4. (politics) An advocate of aggressive political positions and actions.
  Quotations
  A hawk by nature, Ellenborough strongly favoured presenting St Petersburg with an ultimatum warning that any further incursions into Persia would be regarded as a hostile act.
  1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 106
  “Everybody knows who were the hawks and who were the doves,” Bundy told the ExComm on the morning of October 28, after Khrushchev announced that he was withdrawing his missiles. “Today was the day of the doves.”
  2012 October 11 , Michael Dobbs, quoting McGeorge Bundy, “The original hawks and doves”, in Foreign Policy‎
  President Donald Trump has spent years playing the role of a China hawk.
  2019, “The World in 2020”, in The Economist
5. (game theory) An uncooperative or purely-selfish participant in an exchange or game, especially when untrusting, acquisitive or treacherous. Refers specifically to the Prisoner's Dilemma, alias the Hawk-Dove game.
verb
third-person singular simple present hawks, present participle hawking, simple past and past participle hawked
1. (transitive) To hunt with a hawk.
  Quotations
  To hawke, or els to huntFrom the auter to the funt
  c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, page 62, lines 9–10
  He rode astride while hawking; she falconed in the ladylike position of sidesaddle.
  2003, Brenda Joyce, House of Dreams, page 175
2. (intransitive) To make an attack while on the wing; to soar and strike like a hawk.
  Quotations
  A falcon, towering in her pride of place, / Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.
  c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene iv]
  But whether upward to the moon they go, Or dream the winter out in caves below, Or hawk at flies elsewhere
  1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […]
  Dollarbirds hawk from high bare branches.
  1999, Simpson and Day, The Birds of Australia, page 366

hawk²

/hɔːk/

noun
plural hawks
1. A plasterer's tool, made of a flat surface with a handle below, used to hold an amount of plaster prior to application to the wall or ceiling being worked on: a mortarboard.

hawk³

/hɔːk/

verb
third-person singular simple present hawks, present participle hawking, simple past and past participle hawked
1. (transitive) To sell; to offer for sale by outcry in the street; to carry (merchandise) about from place to place for sale; to peddle.
  Quotations
  His works were hawked in every street.
  1713, Jonathan Swift, Imitation of Horace, Book I. Ep. VII

hawk⁴

/hɔːk/

noun
plural hawks
1. A noisy effort to force up phlegm from the throat.
verb
third-person singular simple present hawks, present participle hawking, simple past and past participle hawked
1. (transitive, intransitive) To expectorate, to cough up something from one's throat.
  Quotations
  [I]s a trobled with the cough a the Lunges ſtill? does he hawke anights ſtill?
  c. 1603 (date written), Iohn Marston, The Malcontent, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for William Aspley, […], published 1604, Act II, scene ii
  He hawked up, with incredible straining, the interjection ah!
  1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter 117, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […]
  He had a new tough manner of pulling down breath and hawking into the street.
  1953, Saul Bellow, chapter 3, in The Adventures of Augie March, New York: Viking Press
2. (transitive, intransitive) To try to cough up something from one's throat; to clear the throat loudly.

Definition of "hawk"

hawk1

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hawk2

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hawk3

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hawk4

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hawk¹

hawk²

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hawk⁴