The

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

is a bird of prey. Owl, Owls, or OWL may also refer to:

Arts and entertainment

Fictional entities

Owl (comics) Owl, in comics, may refer to: *Owl (Marvel Comics), a Marvel Comics supervillain *Owl (Dell Comics), a Dell Comics superhero *Owlman (character), character in DC Comics See also

*Owl (disambiguation) {{set index article, comics ...

, the name of several comics characters * Owl (''Winnie the Pooh'') * Ordinary Wizarding Level, a test of magical aptitude in the ''Harry Potter'' novel series

Film and television

* ''Owl'' (film), a 2003 Japanese black comedy * ''The Owl'' (1927 film), a German silent film * ''The Owl'' (1991 film), an American television film * ''The Owl'' (TV series), a French series of animated shorts for children * ''

OWL/TV OWL/TV is a Canadian children's educational television series that aired on CBC, from 1985 to 1990, and then later on CTV, from 1990 to 1994. It focused on nature and science discovery, emphasizing to viewers how they can affect their own envi ...

'', a Canadian children's educational television series 1985–1994 * "Owls" (''Millennium''), a television episode

Literature

* "The Owl" (fairy tale), a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm * ''OWL'' (magazine), a Canadian children's educational magazine; basis of the ''OWL/TV'' series * ''The Owl'' (magazine): A Wednesday Journal of Politics and Society, a satirical society newspaper published in London 1864–1870

Music

Owl (band) Owl is a three piece Los Angeles-based hard rock band formed in 2007. Led by vocalist/bassist Chris Wyse, the long-time bassist for the Cult and a member of Ace Frehley's band, Owl released their eponymous debut in 2009, their second album, ''Th ...

, a Los Angeles–based hard-rock band, and their self-titled 2009 album * Owls (band), a Chicago-based rock band ** ''Owls'' (album), 2001 * Of Wondrous Legends, or O.W.L., an American psych folk band, and their self-titled 1971 album *

The Four Owls The Four Owls, or simply The Owls, are a British hip hop group formed in 2011. The group is signed to English label High Focus Records and is composed entirely of previously established High Focus members under bird-themed aliases: Fliptrix (Bi ...

, or The Owls, a British hip hop group * ''The Owl'' (album), by the Zac Brown Band, 2019 * ''Owl'', an album by

Qwel Adam Vincent Schreiber (born June 6, 1980), better known by his stage name Qwel, is an underground hip hop, underground Rapping, rapper and author, originally from Chicago, Illinois. Qwel is co-founder of the underground rap crew Typical Cats, wi ...

& Maker, 2010 * "Owl", a song by the Cat Empire from the album ''

Where the Angels Fall ''Where the Angels Fall'' is the ninth studio album by Australian band the Cat Empire, released on 25 August 2023 through Two Shoes Records. It was co-produced by Felix Riebl, Ollie McGill, Ross Irwin, and Andy Baldwin, who had previously w ...

'', 2023

Other uses in arts and entertainment

* ''Owl'' (sculpture), a public statue in Canberra, Australia *

NASPA Word List NASPA Word List (NWL, formerly Official Tournament and Club Word List, referred to as OTCWL, OWL, TWL) is the official word authority for tournament Scrabble in the USA and Canada under the aegis of NASPA Games. It is based on the ''Official Scrabb ...

, or OWL, the official word list for ''Scrabble'' in North America

Businesses and organizations

Office Workstations Limited Office Workstations Limited (OWL) was a British software company based in Edinburgh. OWL was founded in 1984 by five former employees of ICL (Ian Ritchie, Stuart Harper, Gordon Dougan, Richard Stonehouse and Dave MacLaren) who had previously w ...

, a British software company *

Older Women's League OWL - The Voice of Women 40+ was founded as the Older Women's League by Tish Sommers and Laurie Shields, following the White House Mini-Conference on Older Women in Des Moines, Iowa in October 1980. The conference, called "Growing Numbers, Growin ...

, an American organization *

Order of Owls The Order of Owls is a secret fraternal order founded in 1904 in South Bend, Indiana, USA, by John W. Talbot. According to its literature, the purposes of the society is "to assist each other in business, to help each other in obtaining employment, ...

, an American fraternal order *

Owl Labs Owl Labs is a company that makes 360° video conferencing devices called the "Meeting Owl", the "Meeting Owl Pro" and the "Meeting Owl 3." It was founded in 2014 by robotics experts Max Makeev and Mark Schnittman. It raised a total of $7.3M in ...

, a company that builds remote conferencing devices *

The Owl Drug Company The Owl Drug Company was an American drugstore retailer with its headquarters in San Francisco that operated the Owl Drug Stores chain. It was a subsidiary of Rexall stores at its peak in the 1920s through 1940s. The Owl Drug Stores sold medicines ...

, an American drug retailer

Languages

Owl (hieroglyph) The total number of distinct Egyptian hieroglyphs increased over time from several hundred in the Middle Kingdom to several thousand during the Ptolemaic Kingdom. In 1928/1929 Alan Gardiner published an overview of hieroglyphs, Gardiner's sign ...

, an Egyptian language uniliteral *

Old Welsh Old Welsh () is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic around 550, ha ...

, ISO 639 language code owl

Military

* HMS ''Owl'', the name of a British ship and a shore establishment * USS ''Owl'', the name of two American ships * CSS ''Owl'', a Confederate States Navy blockade runner in the American Civil War *

Curtiss O-52 Owl The Curtiss O-52 Owl is an observation aircraft used by the United States Army Air Corps before and during World War II. They were used for anti-submarine searches in Americas and by lend-lease also used on the Eastern Front in Europe by the So ...

, an American observation aircraft before and during World War II

People

* Owl Chapman, a short-board surfer * Owl Fisher (born 1991), an Icelandic journalist *

Owl Goingback Owl Goingback (born May 1, 1959) is an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction. Early life The writer was born James Russell Heidbrink on May 1, 1959, in St. Louis, Missouri. According to his personal website, Owl Goingback was ...

(born 1959), American author * Henry Owl (1895–1980) Cherokee educator, activist, historian * Lula Owl Gloyne (1891–1985), born as Louisiana Leta Owl, Cherokee nurse

Places

Owl Creek (disambiguation) Owl Creek may refer to: * Owl Creek (Colorado) * Owl Creek (Arapahoe Creek tributary), a stream in Missouri * Owl Creek (North Fork Charrette Creek), a stream in Missouri * Owl Creek (North River), a stream in Missouri * Owl Creek (Sni-A-Bar Creek) ...

Owl Mountains The Owl Mountains (; ; ; ) are a mountain range of the Central Sudetes, Central Sudetes in southwestern Poland. It includes a protected area called Owl Mountains Landscape Park. Geography The Owl Mountains cover an area of about and stretch ove ...

, Poland * Owl Peak, Wyoming, U.S. *

Owl River (disambiguation) Owl River may refer to: * Owl River (Manitoba), Canada * Owl River, Alberta, Canada See also * Owl Creek (disambiguation) {{geodis ...

* Olympic–Wallowa Lineament (OWL), a physiographic feature in Washington State, U.S. *

Ostwestfalen-Lippe Ostwestfalen-Lippe (, literally ''East(ern) Westphalia-Lippe'', abbreviation OWL) is the eastern region of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, congruent with the administrative region of Detmold and containing the eastern part of Wes ...

(OWL), an area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Science and technology

Astronomy

NGC 457 NGC 457 (also designated Caldwell 13, and known as the Dragonfly Cluster, E.T. Cluster, Owl Cluster, Kachina Doll Cluster or Phi Cassiopeiae Cluster) is an open cluster, open star cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia (constellation), Cassiopei ...

, an open star cluster also known as the Owl Cluster *

Owl Nebula The Owl Nebula (also known as Messier 97, M97 or NGC 3587) is a planetary nebula approximately 2,030 light years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Estimated to be about 8,000 years old, it is approximately circular in cross-section with a fain ...

, in the constellation Ursa Major *

Overwhelmingly Large Telescope The Overwhelmingly Large Telescope (OWL) was a conceptual design by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) organisation for an extremely large telescope, which was intended to have a single aperture of 100 metres in diameter. Because of the com ...

, a proposed optical telescope

Computing

Object Windows Library The Object Windows Library (OWL) is a C++ object-oriented application framework designed to simplify desktop application development for Windows and (some releases) OS/2. OWL was introduced by Borland in 1991 and eventually deprecated in 1997 i ...

, a C++ object-oriented application framework * Online Watch Link, a commercial web application for Neighbourhood Watch schemes *

Openwall Project The Openwall Project is a source for various software, including Openwall GNU/*/Linux (Owl), a security-enhanced Linux distribution designed for servers. Openwall Patch (computing), patches and security extensions have been included into many ma ...

(Owl), a security-enhanced Linux distribution * Owl (AOL), a user-generated content site created by AOL in 2010 * Owl Scientific Computing, a software system for scientific and engineering computing *

Web Ontology Language The Web Ontology Language (OWL) is a family of Knowledge representation and reasoning, knowledge representation languages for authoring Ontology (information science), ontologies. Ontologies are a formal way to describe Taxonomy, taxonomies and ...

, a family of knowledge representation languages

Sports

Bielawa Owls The Bielawa Owls are an American football team located in Bielawa, Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the ...

, an American football team based in Bielawa, Poland *

Chicago Owls The Chicago Owls were a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They were members of the Professional Football League of America (PFLA) in 1967 and, after the leagues merged, the Continental Football League (COFL) during ...

, a defunct professional American football team based in Chicago * Clinton Owls, a defunct minor league baseball team, based in Clinton, Iowa (1937–1938) * Dayton Owls, a minor league ice hockey team in the International Hockey League for the 1977–1978 season *

Florida Atlantic Owls The Florida Atlantic Owls are the athletics teams of Florida Atlantic University. The Owls participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I as members of the American Athletic Conference. On October 21, 2021, Flori ...

, the athletics teams of Florida Atlantic University * Forest City Owls, a baseball team in the Coastal Plain League, a collegiate summer league *

Grand Rapids Owls The Grand Rapids Owls was a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III Junior A ice hockey team in the Central States Hockey League. The team played their home games at the Southside Community Ice Center in Byron Center, Michigan. The players, ages 16� ...

, a defunct International Hockey League team * Owls, the athletic teams of

Keene State College Keene State College is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Keene, New Hampshire. It is part of the University System of New Hampshire. Founded in 1909 as a teacher's college (originally, Ke ...

Kennesaw State Owls The Kennesaw State Owls fields 16 varsity athletics teams, competing for Kennesaw State University. After spending ten years in Division II's Peach Belt Conference, the university fully transitioned to Division I status in the National Colle ...

, the athletic teams of Kennesaw State University * Owls, the athletic teams of the

University of Maine at Presque Isle The University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMaine Presque Isle or UMPI) is a public college in Presque Isle, Maine. It is part of the University of Maine System and one of two University of Maine System schools in Aroostook County, Maine, Aroostoo ...

Orem Owlz The Orem Owlz were a Minor League Baseball team located in Orem, Utah, United States, from 2001 to 2020. The team competed in the Pioneer League as a Rookie League affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. The Owlz played their home games at Home o ...

, a minor league baseball team *

Rice Owls The Rice Owls are the sports teams representing Houston's Rice University in college sports. The name comes from the owls in Rice's crest. Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics. A member of the American Athletic Conference, Rice sponsors ...

, the athletic teams of Rice University *

Temple Owls The Temple Owls are the college athletics, athletic teams that represent Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current athletic director is Arthur Johnson (athletic director), Arthur Johnson. The owl has been the symbol and masco ...

, the athletic teams of Temple University * Topeka Owls, a defunct Western Association minor league baseball team based in Topeka, Kansas *

Uni-Norths Owls The Uni-Norths Owls is a rugby union club located on the campus of the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The club was a result of the merger of ANU and University of Canberra rugby clubs in 1998, wit ...

, an Australian rugby union club * Owls, the athletic teams of

Westfield State University Westfield State University (commonly known as Westfield State) is a public university in Westfield, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1839 by Horace Mann as the first public coeducational college in America. History In 1839, Horace Mann founded ...

Sheffield Wednesday F.C. Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

, an English football club nicknamed "The Owls" * OWLS AC Leicester, an English athletics club * Guildford Owls, an Australian rugby league club *

Overwatch League The Overwatch League (OWL) was a professional esports league for the video game ''Overwatch'', produced by its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. From 2018 to 2023, the Overwatch League followed the model of other traditional North American prof ...

, a professional esports league

Transportation

OWLS Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vis ...

, a mnemonic used by general aviation airplane pilots *

Owl service Night service, sometimes also known as owl service, is a mode of public transport service operated during the night hours. As an intermediate approach – between providing full service around the clock and stopping services altogether – it p ...

, or public transport night service * ''Night Owl'' (train), between Boston and Washington, D.C. * ''Owl'' a train on the

Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad, was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, and by ferry with New York City, a distance of . The railroad was ...

and later

Erie Lackawanna Railway The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route ...

* ''

Owl Limited The ''Owl Limited'' was an overnight passenger train of the Southern Pacific Company which ran between Oakland and Los Angeles via the Central Valley. The service was inaugurated on December 18, 1898. The train was canceled after April 11, 1965 ...

'' a train of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company * Aspark Owl, a Japanese electric sports car

Other uses

Owl butterfly The owl butterflies are species of the genus ''Caligo'' and are known for their huge eyespots, which resemble owls' eyes. They are found in the rainforests and secondary forests of Mexico, Central and South America. Owl butterflies are very l ...

, a member of the genus ''Caligo'' * Olympic–Wallowa Lineament, a geological feature in the state of Washington *

Online Writing Lab An Online Writing Lab (OWL) is often an extension of a university writing center. Online writing labs offer help to students and other writers by providing literacy materials, such as handouts and slide presentations. Writers may also submit que ...

, an extension of a university writing center *

Our Whole Lives Our Whole Lives, or OWL, is a series of six comprehensive sexuality curricula for children, teenagers, young adults and adults published by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries. Pu ...

, a comprehensive sexuality curriculum from the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ