devil screecher en · NOUN
Etymology
From the bird's piercing cry.
Meanings
-
(UK, archaic) A swift.
My informant seemed to look upon the swift as an uncanny bird, and called it by a name I had never heard before, devil-screecher.
1883, Edgar MacCulloch, “Notes, Queries, Notices and News”, in The Folk-Lore Journal, volume 1, number 12, page 394:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| devil screechers | Number=Plur | lexicographic |