The Collaborative International Dictionary
Caprimulgidae \Caprimulgidae\ n. [L. capris goat + mulgere to milk.] a widely distributed natural family of nocturnally active birds including the whip-poor-will ( Caprimulgus vociferus), the chuck-will's-widow ( Caprimulgus carolinensis), and the common nighthawk ( Chordeiles minor); -- called popularly the goatsuckers or nightjars. The nighthawks are sometimes active during the day.
Syn: goatsuckers, nightjars, family Caprimulgidae.
The family . . . is alternately known as the
nightjars (derived from the "churring" sounds of
several species -- "jarring" the night air), or
goatsuckers, a nonsense name that should be
discontinued as it has its origin in the
preposterous myth that the birds sucked the milk
of nanny goats until they were dry.
--Terence
Michael Short
(Wild Birds of
the Americas)
Wiktionary
n. (plural of goatsucker English)
Usage examples of "goatsuckers".
The journal confounds bats, which are winged mammals, with goatsuckers, or whippoorwills, which are birds.
Nothing but the eternal sounds of the night rising sweetly, peacefully, into the air: crickets and grasshoppers, goatsuckers sighing.