- hawk (n.)
- c. 1300, hauk, earlier havek (c. 1200), from Old English hafoc (West Saxon), heafuc (Mercian), heafoc, "hawk," from Proto-Germanic *habukaz (source also of Old Norse haukr, Old Saxon habuc, Middle Dutch havik, Old High German habuh, German Habicht "hawk"), from a root meaning "to seize," from PIE *kap- "to grasp" (source also of Russian kobec "a kind of falcon;" see capable). Transferred sense of "militarist" attested from 1956, probably based on its opposite, dove.
- hawk (v.1)
- "to sell in the open, peddle," late 15c., back-formation from hawker "itinerant vendor" (c. 1400), agent noun from Middle Low German höken "to peddle, carry on the back, squat," from Proto-Germanic *huk-. Related: Hawked; hawking. Despite the etymological connection with stooping under a burden on one's back, a hawker is technically distinguished from a peddler by use of a horse and cart or a van.
- hawk (v.2)
- "to hunt with a hawk," mid-14c., from hawk (n.).
- hawk (v.3)
- "to clear one's throat," 1580s, imitative.
