FreeScrabbleDictionary

gawk

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
12
Words With Friends
13
Letters
4
Pronunciation
/ɡɔːk/
See all 2 pronunciations
/ɡɔːk/ · /ɡɑk/

Definition of gawk

6 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. A cuckoo; (sometimes by extension) any gawky bird.
    “His morning prey he craveth; So crowed the gawk of carrion⁶ […] (6) Gawk of carrion = [kenning for] raven.”
    “Some sneakingly fly watching, as the hawk; Or, as a Cuckoo, grow to limb as a gawk.”
    “I WONDER if you know the cuckoos. […] In Scotlad the popular name for the cuckoo is "the gawk," which means fool. […] But our American cuckoos are a long way from gawks. Indeed many farmers consider them fine weather prophets.”
    “[…] threw into a market crate regretfully a somewhat gawky, long-legged youngster that was otherwise exceptionally fine. A neighbour rescued the gawk from the market crate and the two birds as cocks competed in a local show. The "gawk" won. Why? […] the gawk [appeared] of good station.”
    “[…] cuckoos proper have fourteen cervical vertebrae and no feather crest. The ejection urge is well developed in them. The gawks [:] There are three genera with thirteen species of gawks. A. THICK-BILLED CUCKOOS (Pachycoccyx) have only one species[…]”
See all 6 definitions

noun

  1. A cuckoo; (sometimes by extension) any gawky bird.
    “His morning prey he craveth; So crowed the gawk of carrion⁶ […] (6) Gawk of carrion = [kenning for] raven.”
    “Some sneakingly fly watching, as the hawk; Or, as a Cuckoo, grow to limb as a gawk.”
    “I WONDER if you know the cuckoos. […] In Scotlad the popular name for the cuckoo is "the gawk," which means fool. […] But our American cuckoos are a long way from gawks. Indeed many farmers consider them fine weather prophets.”
    “[…] threw into a market crate regretfully a somewhat gawky, long-legged youngster that was otherwise exceptionally fine. A neighbour rescued the gawk from the market crate and the two birds as cocks competed in a local show. The "gawk" won. Why? […] the gawk [appeared] of good station.”
    “[…] cuckoos proper have fourteen cervical vertebrae and no feather crest. The ejection urge is well developed in them. The gawks [:] There are three genera with thirteen species of gawks. A. THICK-BILLED CUCKOOS (Pachycoccyx) have only one species[…]”
  2. A fool; a simpleton; a stupid or clumsy person.
    “A Duke of Weissenfels, for instance; foolish old gawk, whom Wilhehnina Princess Royal recollects for his distracted notions, — which were well shaken out of him by Wilhelmina's Brother afterwards.”
  3. A conspicuous or stupid stare or gape; an instance of gawking.
    “... the gawks and gapes of townsfolk as stares of admiration.”
    “... the gawks and gapes of those who'd expected him to be long dead,[…]”

verb

  1. To stare or gape stupidly.
  2. To stare conspicuously.
  3. (colloquial, vulgar)To suck.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From a variant of gowk, from Middle English gowke, goke, from Old Norse gaukr (“cuckoo”), from Proto-Germanic *gaukaz (“cuckoo”). Cognate with Danish gøg, Swedish gök, German Gauch, Old English ġēac. Compare also French gauche, and English gawky and gallock.

Words you can make from gawk

4 playable · top: WAG (7 pts)

Best play wag 7 points

2-letter words

3 words

Hooks

2 extensions · 2 back

A single letter you can add to gawk to make another valid word.

Back

Find your best play with gawk

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes gawk, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.

Find more plays Browse word lists