gawk

plural gawks

1. A cuckoo; (sometimes by extension) any gawky bird.

   Some sneakingly fly watching, as the hawk; Or, as a Cuckoo, grow to limb as a gawk.

   1910, John Bunyan Robinson, Bird Or Feather Convention ..., page 11

   4 more examples

   His morning prey he craveth; So crowed the gawk of carrion⁶ […] (6) Gawk of carrion = [kenning for] raven.

   1898, Ari Thorgilsson, The Book of the Settlement of Iceland, page 105

   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.

   1916, Inez N. McFee, “The Cuckoos”, in Home and School Visitor, page 276

   […] 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.

   1923, The New Reliable Poultry Journal, page 640

   […] 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[…]

   1972, Bernhard Grzimek, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Birds I-III

2. A fool; a simpleton; a stupid or clumsy person.

   A Duke of Weissenfels, for instance; foolish old gawk, whom Wilhehmina Princess Royal recollects for his distracted notions, — which were well shaken out of him by Wilhelmina's Brother afterwards.

   1855, Thomas Carlyle, The Prinzenraub, Westminster Review

present singular third person gawks · participle present gawking · participle past gawked · past gawked

1. To stare or gape stupidly.
2. To stare conspicuously.

   Synonyms: gaw, gloar, glom, stare

3. colloquialvulgarTo suck.

plural gawks

1. A conspicuous or stupid stare or gape; an instance of gawking.

   ... the gawks and gapes of townsfolk as stares of admiration.

   1991, Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly

   1 more example

   ... the gawks and gapes of those who'd expected him to be long dead,[…]

   2017 March 7, Cat Sparks, Lotus Blue, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN