howlet
An owl; an owlet.
Noun
- An owl; an owlet.
- Will the night send a howlet or a bat? / I asked: when something on the dismal flat / Came to arrest my thoughts and change their train. - 1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section XVIII:
Origin
From Middle English howlat, howlott etc, either borrowed from French hulotte or formed from Middle English howle (form of oule) + -et. Compare modern owlet.