Obs. exc. dial. Also 5 cadaw, 5–7 cadowe, 6 cadow, caddawe, caddowe, 9 dial. caw-daw. [perh. f. ca, ka jackdaw (Sc. KAE) + DAW. (The Ir. cudhóg, Gael. cathag, Manx caaig jackdaw can hardly be connected.)]
A jackdaw.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 57/2. Cadaw, or keo, or chowghe [v.r. ko; cadowe or koo], monedula.
1530. Palsgr., 202/1. Caddawe a byrde, chucas.
1552. Huloet, Caddowe, or choughe, byrde; some call them Jacke dawe.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 101. Kill crowe, pie and cadow.
1579. Marr. Wit & Wisd. (1849), 26. She can cackle like a cadowe.
1621. Ainsworth, Annot. Pentat., Lev. xi. 15. Crows, caddows, pies, and the like.
1792. Osbaldiston, Brit. Sportsm., 85/1. Caddow, a bird, otherwise called a chough or jackdaw.
1842. Few Words to Churchw. (Camb. Camden Soc.), I. 14. I know of one Cathedral where there found whole stacks, I might say, of such rubbish, brought together by the jackdaws or caddows.
1864. Atkinson, Prov. Names of Birds, Caddow, caw-daw.
