owlet

plural owlets

1. diminutiveDiminutive of owl.

   Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

   c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]

   2 more examples

   And in faith Sir unlesse your hospitalitie doe releeve us, wee are like to wander with a sorrowfull hey ho, among the owlets, & Hobgoblins of the Forrest […]

   c. 1590 (date written), G[eorge] P[eele], The Old Wiues Tale. […], London: […] Iohn Danter, for Raph Hancocke, and Iohn Hardie, […], published 1595, →OCLC

   […] and bold with joy, Forth from his dark and lonely hiding-place (Portentous sight) the owlet, ATHEISM, Sailing on obscene wings athwart the noon, Drops his blue-fringed lids, and holds them close, And, hooting at the glorious sun in heaven, Cries out, “where is it?”

   1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Fears in Solitude, London: J. Johnson, pages 4–5

2. A young owl; owling.
3. One of a species of small owls, such as Athene noctua.
4. An owlet moth.

   Noticeable features found in many of the owlets are two markings that often appear on the upper forewings.

   2023, John Himmelman, Discovering Moths, page 39