subs. (common).—1. A prostitute: see BARRACK-HACK and TART.
2. (university).—A member of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge: obsolete.
3. (general).—A person much about at night.
Verb. (common).—1. To sit up at night; and 2 (obsolete) to carry on a contraband night-trade; to smuggle. Cf. OWLER.
TO CATCH THE OWL, verb. phr. (old).—See quot.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. OWL, TO CATCH THE OWL, a trick practised on ignorant country boobies, who are decoyed into a barn under pretence of catching an owl, where after divers preliminaries, the joke ends in their having a pail of water poured upon their heads.
TO TAKE THE OWL, verb. phr. (old).—To get angry.
TO LIVE TOO NEAR A WOOD TO BE FRIGHTENED BY AN OWL, verb. phr. (old).—Not easy to alarm.
1708–10. SWIFT, Polite Conversation, 1. What, do you think I was born in a wood, TO BE AFRAID OF AN OWL?
TO BRING (or SEND) OWLS TO ATHENS, verb. phr. (common).—To undertake a work of supererogation; TO TAKE COALS TO NEWCASTLE (q.v.). [Gr. Noctuas Athénas: owls abounded in Athens.]
LIKE AN OWL IN AN IVY-BUSH, phr. (old).—See quot. 1823.
1708–10. SWIFT, Polite Conversation, 1. Lord Sparkish. How did the Fool look? Col. … Egad, he look’d for all the world LIKE AN OWL IN AN IVY BUSH.
1767. RAY, Proverbs [BOHN], 57, s.v.
1823. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue [EGAN], s.v. He looks LIKE AN OWL IN AN IVY BUSH; frequently said of a person with a large frizzled wig, or a woman whose hair is dressed a-la-blouze.
