Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OWL, n. [Sax. ula, ule; D. uil; G. eule; Sw. ugla or uggla; L. ulula. The orthography, except in the Swedish, coincides with howl, L. ululo; but the radical letters are not obvious.]

A fowl of the genus Strix, that flies chiefly in the night. The popular name of a group of nocturnal accipitrine birds, comprehended under the Linnæan genus Strix, which has been subdivided by later naturalists.