Meanings
noundevil screecher (plural devil screechers)
plural devil screechers
- UKarchaicA 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
Origin
From the bird's piercing cry.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
devil screecher. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devil%20screecher
MLA
“devil screecher.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devil%20screecher. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “devil screecher,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devil%20screecher.
Source: devil screecher on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.