squinch-owl U.S. local.
[squinch v.]
= screech-owl 1 b.
| 1880 J. C. Harris Uncle Remus xix. 89 Word went roun' dat de man Squinch Owl done kotch nudder watzizname. 1929 W. Faulkner Sound & Fury 48, I heard a squinch owl that night. 1966 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1964 xlii. 23 Screech (or scritch, or squeach, or squinch, or scrooch) owl, Otus asio, each name of which suggests some characteristic of the little owl. |