Lexic.us

Definition of Hawk moth

1. Noun. Any of various moths with long narrow forewings capable of powerful flight and hovering over flowers to feed.

Definition of Hawk moth

1. Noun. Any moth of the family ''Sphingidae''. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Medical Definition of Hawk moth

1. Any moth of the family Sphingidae, of which there are numerous genera and species. They are large, handsome moths, which fly mostly at twilight and hover about flowers like a humming bird, sucking the honey by means of a long, slender proboscis. The larvae are large, hairless caterpillars ornamented with green and other bright colours, and often with a caudal spine. The larvae of several species of hawk moths feed on grapevines. The elm-tree hawk moth is Ceratomia Amyntor. See: sphinx, tobacco worm, tomato worm, tobacco hawk moth (Macrosila Carolina). Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Hawk Moth

Literary usage of Hawk moth

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The English Illustrated Magazine (1904)
"The Eyed Hawk-Moth, however, possesses only a short honey-sucking tube, and ha > a heavier flight, and is therefore both more readily seen and captured than ..."

2. The naturalist on the river Amazons by Henry Walter Bates (1873)
"The resemblance between this hawk-moth and a humming-bird is certainly very curious, and strikes one even when both are examined in the hand. ..."

3. The Book of the Thames: From Its Rise to Its Fall by Samuel Carter Hall (1877)
"The moth into which the " creature " is eventually transformed, Caterpillar of the Hawk-moth. The Elephant Hawk-moth. ..."

4. The New American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge by George Ripley (1859)
"hawk moth, the proper name of the 2d or crepuscular division of the order lepidoptera, corresponding to the old genus sphinx (Linn. ..."

5. Animal Coloration: An Account of the Principal Facts and Theories Relating by Frank Evers Beddard (1892)
"The Bee hawk moth may not have had time to acquire so close a likeness to its ... Bee hawk moth. happens, the legs have a distinctly wasp-like appearance, ..."

6. The Intellectual Observer (1866)
"The numerous newspaper paragraphs which appeared on the subject after a while supplied the name, " Humming-bird Hawk-moth." " Oh, that mnst be our friend," ..."

7. Sea-side Walks of a Naturalist with His Children by William Houghton (1870)
"The name hawk-moth is applied to several other moths, as the Privet hawk-moth, ... The Humming-bird hawk-moth is at once distinguished by its rapid flight, ..."

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