night-raven

English

Noun

night-raven (plural night-ravens)

  1. A bird active at night, sometimes identified with a specific species such as a night owl or nightjar, and sometimes seen as a separate animal in its own right.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      sad Horrour with grim hew, / Did alwayes sore, beating his yron wings; / And after him Owles and Night-rauens flew, / The hatefull messengers of heauy things [...].
    • 1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, IV.4:
      Cursed creatures, messengers of death, possess the world. / Night-ravens, screech-owls, and voice-killing mandrakes […].

See also
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