Word of the Day

: June 17, 2007

hawkshaw

noun HAWK-shaw

What It Means

: detective

hawkshaw in Context

Though she risked being late for an appointment, Amanda could not bring herself to set the book down until the novel's hawkshaw had solved the mystery.

Did You Know?

If you're a fan of mystery writing, you may have a favorite fictional detective. Perhaps it's Hercule Poirot (created by Agatha Christie), Lord Peter Wimsey (created by Dorothy L. Sayers), or Mike Hammer (created by Mickey Spillane). These and other famous sleuths from the mystery genre follow in the tradition of a fictional detective from the 19th century: Hawkshaw, a theatrical gumshoe introduced in the 1863 play The Ticket of Leave Man by British dramatist Tom Taylor. "Hawkshaw" gained further popularity as a general term for a detective when the name was used for a character in a comic strip by American cartoonist Gus Mager.