Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A caprimulgine bird, Nyctibius jamaicensis.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A large South American goatsucker (
Nyctibius grandis ).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A large
South American goatsucker (Nyctibius grandis).
Etymologies
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Examples
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Their weird cries are reflected in the common names for many of the species, e.g., whippoorwill, chuck-will's-widow, poorwill, poor-me-one, potoo, and pauraque.
reesetee commented on the word potoo
Sometimes called "Poor-Me-Ones" because of their call, potoos are large birds related to nightjars and frogmouths. They are nocturnal insect eaters but lack the bristles around the mouth that true nightjars have. They hunt from perches like a shrike or flycatcher. During the day they perch on tree stumps and are often mistaken for part of the stump. A potoo lays only one egg, usually on the top of a stump.
February 11, 2007