CAW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does caw mean? 

• CAW (noun)
  The noun CAW has 1 sense:

1. the sound made by corvine birds

  Familiarity information: CAW used as a noun is very rare.

• CAW (verb)
  The verb CAW has 1 sense:

1. utter a cry, characteristic of crows, rooks, or ravens

  Familiarity information: CAW used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CAW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The sound made by corvine birds

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("caw" is a kind of...):

cry (the characteristic utterance of an animal)

Derivation:

caw (utter a cry, characteristic of crows, rooks, or ravens)

• CAW (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they caw    ... he / she / it caws   
Past simple: cawed   
Past participle: cawed   
-ing form: cawing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Utter a cry, characteristic of crows, rooks, or ravens

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "caw" is one way to...):

emit; let loose; let out; utter (express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

caw (the sound made by corvine birds)

 Context examples 

At last the woods rose; the rookery clustered dark; a loud cawing broke the morning stillness.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

So here we are, installed in this beautiful old house, and from both my bedroom and the drawing-room I can see the great elms of the cathedral close, with their great black stems standing out against the old yellow stone of the cathedral and I can hear the rooks overhead cawing and cawing and chattering and gossiping all day, after the manner of rooks—and humans.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The rooks cawed, and blither birds sang; but nothing was so merry or so musical as my own rejoicing heart.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Its grey front stood out well from the background of a rookery, whose cawing tenants were now on the wing: they flew over the lawn and grounds to alight in a great meadow, from which these were separated by a sunk fence, and where an array of mighty old thorn trees, strong, knotty, and broad as oaks, at once explained the etymology of the mansion's designation.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I was yet enjoying the calm prospect and pleasant fresh air, yet listening with delight to the cawing of the rooks, yet surveying the wide, hoary front of the hall, and thinking what a great place it was for one lonely little dame like Mrs. Fairfax to inhabit, when that lady appeared at the door.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)