GOATSUCKER

goatsucker, nightjar, caprimulgid

(noun) mainly crepuscular or nocturnal nonpasserine birds with mottled greyish-brown plumage and large eyes; feed on insects

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

goatsucker (plural goatsuckers)

Any bird in the nightjar family Caprimulgidae

Source: Wiktionary


Goat"suck`er, n. (Zoöl.)

Definition: 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 .

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

12 March 2025

BUDGERIGAR

(noun) small Australian parakeet usually light green with black and yellow markings in the wild but bred in many colors


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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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