hawk [OE] Hawk may come from a Germanic root with the sense ‘to seize’. In politics a hawk, a person who advocates hard-line or warlike policies, contrasts with a *dove, a peacemaker. The terms emerged in the early 1960s at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, when the Soviet Union threatened to install missiles in Cuba within striking distance of the USA. To hawk meaning ‘to carry about and offer goods for sale’ was formed in the late 15th century, probably by removing the ending from hawker, ‘a person who travels around selling goods’, which had been in use since the 14th century. It is related to huckster [ME], from a root meaning ‘to haggle, bargain’. See also haggard.