Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

morepork en · INTJ

Pronunciation

  • /ˈmɔːpɔːk/ (Australia, Received-Pronunciation)
  • /ˈmoːpoːk/ (New-Zealand)
  • /ˈmɔɹˌpɔ(ə)ɹk/ (General-American)
  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

The word is imitative of the bird's call.

Meanings

  1. The call of a morepork.
    • [T]he morepork, a species of caprimulgus, or goatsucker,^([sic]) keeps up all night the exact repetition of its own name, "Morepork! morepork!" It is a sound to me most expressive of a dreary loneliness and twilight distance that I ever heard. 1852 December 1, William Howitt, “Letter VII”, in Land, Labour, and Gold; or, Two Years in Victoria: With Visits to Sydney and Van Diemen’s Land. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, published 1855, →OCLC, pages 115–116:
    • As soon as night begins to spread its darkening shadows over our brief twilight, this active creature sets out on its hunting excursions, roaming over field and gully with soft, noiseless flight, one of the advantages it owes to its flocculent plumage; its cry of "morepork, morepork," is repeated at frequent intervals, sometimes with the utmost rapidity of utterance; [...] 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, pages 61–62:
    • As soon as the shades of evening close in over the Australian forest, the ear is startled by the cry of "morepoke," clearly and loudly repeated, and a bird as large as an owl flits by on noiseless wing, like the goat-sucker at home. This is the Morepoke, a species of large night-jar,^([sic]) all head and mouth, about the size of an owl. 1861, [Horace William Wheelwright], “A Chapter on the Ornithology of Port Phillip”, in Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist; or, Notes on the Field Sports and Fauna of Australia Felix. By an Old Bushman, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, Warne, & Routledge, […], →OCLC, page 126:
    • ‘I assure you. I do rather a good morepork.’ Bernard sat up, straightened his shoulders. ‘More pork. More pork.’ 1992, Barbara Anderson, chapter 8, in Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Wellington: Victoria University Press, published 2002, →ISBN, page 141:
    • I know where a morepork lives, in the roof of our dunny, and I hear it hoot ‘morepork, morepork’ every night. And I hoot ‘morepork’ back to it, and it hoots ‘morepork’ back to me. 2005, Jack Lasenby, “The Morepork’s Revenge, Mr Bryce’s Verandah Post, Why Freddy Jones Bit His Tongue, and the Way Fern Uncurls at the Top”, in Mr Bluenose, Dunedin: Longacre Press, →ISBN:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
morepoke alternative lexicographic

morepork en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈmɔːpɔːk/ (Australia, Received-Pronunciation)
  • /ˈmoːpoːk/ (New-Zealand)
  • /ˈmɔɹˌpɔ(ə)ɹk/ (General-American)
  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

The word is imitative of the bird's call.

Meanings

  1. (New-Zealand) The Tasmanian spotted owl (Ninox novaeseelandiae), a small brown owl indigenous to New Zealand and Tasmania.
    • 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. 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:
    • [I]t was better fun wandering about with the old man at night than moping in my hut, listening to the morepoke. 1876, Richard Rowe, “The Bunyip”, in A Child’s Corner Book: Stories for Boys and Girls, London; Edinburgh: William P. Nimmo. […], →OCLC, page 182:
    • 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. 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:
    • 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. 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:
    • We were a family of odd bods and every summer we spent by the river. At night the morepokes called again and again. 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:
    • [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. 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:
    • Moreporks’ inquisitive, searching eyes, / scan the hiding places, search the ground, / it stares ’round … from flattened rounded face. 2012, Robert Taylor, “Predators”, in Driftwood: Another Voice, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 47:
    • 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. 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:
    • [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 [...]. 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:
    • 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." 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:
  2. (Australia, New-Zealand, colloquial, derogatory) Used as a mild term of abuse. ▸ A foolish person; also, a person who is wearisome.
    • 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. 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:
  3. (Australia, New-Zealand, colloquial, derogatory) Used as a mild term of abuse. ▸ A person who is lazy or slow; a slowcoach, a slowpoke.
    • 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. 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:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
morepoke alternative lexicographic
moreporks Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

mopoke

Hypernyms

boobook owl (bird of the genus Ninox) · boobook (bird of the genus Ninox) · hawk owl (bird of the genus Ninox)

Synonyms

tarrier · ne'er-do-well · waster · sluggard · lie-abed · do-nothing · loiter-sack · skiver · bum · morepork · good-for-nothing · lounger · wasteman · poop · dawdler · slug-a-bed · footler · do-naught · laggard · deadbeat · sofa spud · faineant · lollygagger · lazy louse · goldbricker · truant · mopoke · goof-off · loafer · lidderon · idler · lounge lizard · slow belly · couch potato · slug · layabout · slob · shirker · slacker · dogfucker · ruru · lazy ass · dosser · idleton · slugabed · lazybones · lallygag · flaneur · get-nothing · wastrel · ragabash · slugabug · sluggabed

Translations (26)

hu kakukkbagoly (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · sk sovka mopoke (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · ru куку́шечья иглоно́гая сова́ (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · fr ninoxe boubouk (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · mi ruru (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · da newzealandsk høgeugle (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · ga búbúc Norfolk (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · lt gegutinė aštrianagė pelėda (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · ja ニュージーランドアオバズク (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · cs sova skvrnitá (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · no nattsvermerugle (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · cs sovka bubuk (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · pl sowica ciemnolica (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · nl Nieuw-Zeelandse boeboekuil (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · it gufastore di Nuova Zelanda (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · fi uudenseelanninhaukkapöllö (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · et lõuna-haugaskakk (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · he ינשוף טסמני מנוקד (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · de Neuseeland-Kuckuckskauz (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · ca nínox de Nova Zelanda (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · wyi gugum (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · cy gwalchdylluan bwbwc (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · sv nyazeelandspökuggla (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · es nínox maorí (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · eo ruruo (Ninox novaeseelandiae) · pt coruja-lavradora (Ninox novaeseelandiae)