morepork
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɔːpɔːk/
ipa: /ˈmɔɹˌpɔ(ə)ɹk/
ipa: /ˈmoːpoːk/
Forms: form: moreporks
form: morepoke
Etymology: The word is imitative of the bird's call.
Senses: examples: text: [T]he eye of the Morepork or Greater Night Jarr,^([sic]) which I lately had the opportunity of examining, is wonderfully adapted for enabling it to see the insects in the dark, on which it feeds.
ref: 1843, James Backhouse, chapter XVIII, in A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies, London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co. […]; York, Yorkshire: John L. Linney, […], →OCLC, page 213:
text: Although the living figure of our owl may be unknown to most persons, from the nature of its habits, yet few, perhaps very few, of the older settlers are unacquainted with the human-like cry of the More-pork.
ref: 1871 May, T[homas] H[enry] Potts, “Art. XI.—On the Birds of New Zealand. … (Part II.)”, in James Hector, editor, Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 1870, volume III, Wellington: James Hughes, printer, […]; London: Trübner 7 Co., […], →OCLC, page 61:
text: [I]t was better fun wandering about with the old man at night than moping in my hut, listening to the morepoke.
ref: 1876, Richard Rowe, “The Bunyip”, in A Child’s Corner Book: Stories for Boys and Girls, London; Edinburgh: William P. Nimmo. […], →OCLC, page 182:
text: When Heke and Kawiti were making an attack on the Europeans in the Bay of Islands, the native parties, in taking up their positions before daybreak, communicated their movements to one another by imitating the cry of the morepork, which the sentries were accustomed to hear, and of which they therefore took no notice.
ref: 1909, F[rederick] W[ollaston] Hutton, James Drummond, “[Aves.] The Morepork.—Kuru or Koukou. Ninox novae-zealandiae.”, in The Animals of New Zealand: An Account of the Dominion’s Air-breathing Vertebrates, 3rd revised and enlarged edition, Christchurch; Wellington; Dunedin: Whitcombe and Tombs, →OCLC, page 170:
text: Moreporks and laughing owls were both recorded from the Punakaiki karst in small numbers, although the presence of laughing owls was inferred only from prey remains. [...] Because moreporks were extremely rare in fossil deposits, Millener (1991) suggested that they were recent colonists. In Punakaiki, one of the morepork records is of bones beneath an entrance tomo.
ref: 1993 September, T[revor] H[enry] Worthy, R. N. Holdaway, “Quaternary Fossil Faunas from Caves in the Punakaiki Area, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand”, in Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, volume 23, number 3, Wellington: SIR Publishing, Royal Society of New Zealand, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 216:
text: I remember that at night there was usually a morepork in the tree, whose eerie calls scared me as I lay still in bed, with firmly closed eyes, waiting for a possible attack.
ref: 2000, L. C. Woods, “Growing Up”, in Against the Tide: An Autobiographical Account of a Professional Outsider, Bristol; Philadelpha, Pa.: Institute of Physics Publishing, →ISBN, page 1:
text: [T]wo New Zealand Moreporks (Ninox novaeseelandiae) were introduced to Norfolk Island in 1987, where only one individual of the closely related Norfolk Island Boobook (Ninox novaeseelandiae undulata) survived [...]. Nest boxes were erected across the island to supplement the dearth of natural hollows. By early 1995, the population had risen to 11 birds [...].
ref: 2002, Philip Gibbons, David Lindenmayer, “The Role of Nest Boxes in Research and Management”, in Tree Hollows and Wildlife Conservation in Australia, Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, published 2003, →ISBN, page 146:
text: I heard the harsh rasping of a weta, a mega-cricket. Then a pair of Morepork owls began a duet. Few birds are as aptly named as the Morepork. From dusk to sun-up and from forest to suburban garden, this medium-sized owl emphatically calls for "more pork."
ref: 2008, David Stirling, “Belly Up in the Kauri Trees”, in Birds, Beasts and a Bike under the Southern Cross, Victoria, B.C.: Agio Publishing House, →ISBN, page 14:
text: Moreporks’ inquisitive, searching eyes, / scan the hiding places, search the ground, / it stares ’round … from flattened rounded face.
ref: 2012, Robert Taylor, “Predators”, in Driftwood: Another Voice, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 47:
text: We were a family of odd bods and every summer we spent by the river. At night the morepokes called again and again.
ref: 2016, Brigid Lowry, “My Inky Life: Thoughts about Writing Memoir”, in Still Life with Teapot: On Zen, Writing and Creativity, North Fremantle, W.A.: Fremantle Press, →ISBN:
synonyms: word: mopoke
word: ruru
glosses: The Tasmanian spotted owl (Ninox novaeseelandiae), a small brown owl indigenous to New Zealand and Tasmania.
examples: text: It is interesting that the Opposition morepork is starting to chirp. [...] We have all heard about the "gang of four and a half"—the morepork brigade.
ref: 1985 July 16, Ken Shirley, “Appropriation Bill (No. 2)—Financial Statement: Second Reading”, in Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): First Session, Forty-first Parliament (House of Representatives), volume 464, Wellington: V. R. Ward, government printer, →OCLC, page 5636:
glosses: Used as a mild term of abuse.
A foolish person; also, a person who is wearisome.
examples: text: Where's that old morepoke? O, you're there, are you? Fetch the jack off o' your wagon—come! fly roun'! you're (very) slow for a young fellow.
ref: 1903 August 1, Tom Collins [pseudonym; Joseph Furphy], chapter 1, in Such is Life: Being Certain Extracts from the Diary of Tom Collins, Sydney, N.S.W.: Bulletin Newspaper Company, →OCLC; republished Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin House of Books, 2012, →ISBN:
glosses: Used as a mild term of abuse.
A person who is lazy or slow; a slowcoach, a slowpoke.
synonyms: word: bum
word: couch potato
word: dawdler
word: deadbeat
word: dogfucker
word: do-naught
word: do-nothing
word: dosser
word: idler
word: idleton
word: faineant
word: flaneur
word: footler
word: get-nothing
word: goldbricker
word: goof-off
word: lallygag
word: lollygagger
word: laggard
word: layabout
word: lazy ass
word: lazybones
word: lazy louse
word: lidderon
word: lie-abed
word: loafer
word: loiter-sack
word: lounge lizard
word: lounger
word: morepork
word: poop
word: ragabash
word: shirker
word: slacker
word: slow belly
word: slugabed
word: slug-a-bed
word: slugabug
word: sluggabed
word: sluggard
word: sofa spud
word: tarrier
word: truant
Hypernyms: sense: bird of the genus Ninox
word: boobook
sense: bird of the genus Ninox
word: boobook owl
sense: bird of the genus Ninox
word: hawk owl
Derived terms: mopoke