Owl n.
 1. Zool. Any species of raptorial birds of the family Strigidae.  They have large eyes and ears, and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye.  They are mostly nocturnal in their habits.
 Note: ☞ Some species have erectile tufts of feathers on the head.  The feathers are soft and somewhat downy.  The species are numerous.  See Barn owl, Burrowing owl, Eared owl, Hawk owl, Horned owl, Screech owl, Snowy owl, under Barn, Burrowing, etc.
 Note: ☞ In the Scriptures the owl is commonly associated with desolation; poets and story-tellers introduce it as a bird of ill omen.  . . . The Greeks and Romans made it the emblem of wisdom, and sacred to Minerva, -- and indeed its large head and solemn eyes give it an air of wisdom.
 2. Zool. A variety of the domestic pigeon.
 Owl monkey Zool., any one of several species of South American nocturnal monkeys of the genus Nyctipithecus.  They have very large eyes.  Called also durukuli.
 Owl moth Zool., a very large moth (Erebus strix). The expanse of its wings is over ten inches.
 Owl parrot Zool., the kakapo.
 Sea owl Zool., the lumpfish.
 Owl train, a cant name for certain railway trains whose run is in the nighttime.
 Horned a. Furnished with a horn or horns; furnished with a hornlike process or appendage; as, horned cattle; having some part shaped like a horn.
 The horned moon with one bright star
 Within the nether tip.   --Coleridge.
 Horned bee Zool., a British wild bee (Osmia bicornis), having two little horns on the head.
 Horned dace Zool., an American cyprinoid fish (Semotilus corporialis) common in brooks and ponds; the common chub. See Illust. of Chub.
 Horned frog Zool., a very large Brazilian frog (Ceratophrys cornuta), having a pair of triangular horns arising from the eyelids.
 Horned grebe Zool., a species of grebe (Colymbus auritus), of Arctic Europe and America, having two dense tufts of feathers on the head.
 Horned horse Zool., the gnu.
 Horned lark Zool., the shore lark.
 Horned lizard Zool., the horned toad.
 Horned owl Zool., a large North American owl (Bubo Virginianus), having a pair of elongated tufts of feathers on the head. Several distinct varieties are known; as, the Arctic, Western, dusky, and striped horned owls, differing in color, and inhabiting different regions; -- called also great horned owl, horn owl, eagle owl, and cat owl. Sometimes also applied to the long-eared owl. See Eared owl, under Eared.
 Horned poppy. Bot. See Horn poppy, under Horn.
 Horned pout Zool., an American fresh-water siluroid fish; the bullpout.
 Horned rattler Zool., a species of rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes), inhabiting the dry, sandy plains, from California to Mexico. It has a pair of triangular horns between the eyes; -- called also sidewinder.
 Horned ray Zool., the sea devil.
 Horned screamer Zool., the kamichi.
 Horned snake Zool., the cerastes.
 Horned toad Zool., any lizard of the genus Phrynosoma, of which nine or ten species are known. These lizards have several hornlike spines on the head, and a broad, flat body, covered with spiny scales. They inhabit the dry, sandy plains from California to Mexico and Texas. Called also horned lizard.
 Horned viper. Zool. See Cerastes.
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 horned owl
      n : large owls having prominent ear tufts