Other forms: jackdaws
A jackdaw is a small grey-necked member of the crow family. A pair of jackdaws, jackdaws in the chimney, the jackdaw's eye.
It is famous for picking up bright objects, which is where the reputation for theft comes from, though tests suggest they are actually wary of shiny things. They nest in chimneys and mate for life.
1nounjackdawA small grey-necked member of the crow family.
“A noisy jackdaw hopped across the lawn, looking for scraps.”
jackdaw is a bird.
Jack plus daw, an old name for the bird, with jack perhaps imitating its call.
Proto-West Germanic
*dāhwā
Old English
*dāwe
English, today
jackdaw
Built from
Compound of jack + daw. The first element, also present in Low German (North Saxon) Jöker (“jackdaw”), may refer either to its characteristic call, often represented as tchak-tchak, maybe influenced by association with the name Jack. The second element means “jackdaw” in itself, from Old English dāwe, from Proto-West Germanic dāhwā. Cognate with prg doacke (“starling”), Latin faccilāre (“the sound or timbre of the thrush”), and German Dohle (“jackdaw”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA