A war hawk, or simply hawk for short, is a term used in politics for someone favoring war in a debate over whether to go to war, or whether to continue or escalate an existing war. War hawks are the opposite of war doves. The terms are derived through analogy with the birds of the same name: hawks are predators which attack and feed on other animals, whereas doves mostly eat seeds and fruit, and are historically a symbol of peace.
Read more about War Hawk: Historical Group, Variations of The Term
Famous quotes containing the words war and/or hawk:
“We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.”
—Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)
“The hawk is aerial brother of the wave which he sails over and surveys, those his perfect air-inflated wings answering to the elemental unfledged pinions of the sea.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)