different between shriek vs yowl

English

Alternative forms

• shreek (obsolete)

Etymology

From obsolete shrick (1567), shreke, variants of earier screak, skricke (bef. 1500), from Middle English scrycke, from a Scandinavian language (compare Swedish skrika, Icelandic skríkja), from Proto-Germanic *skr?kijan?, *skrik- (compare English screech). More at screech.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??i?k/
• Rhymes: -i?k

Noun

shriek (plural shrieks)

1. A sharp, shrill outcry or scream; a shrill wild cry such as is caused by sudden or extreme terror, pain, or the like.

   • Shrieks, clamours, murmurs, fill the frighted town.

   • 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5:

     Sabor, the lioness, was a wise hunter. To one less wise the wild alarm of her fierce cry as she sprang would have seemed a foolish thing, for could she not more surely have fallen upon her victims had she but quietly leaped without that loud shriek?

2. (Britain, slang) An exclamation mark.

Translations

Verb

shriek (third-person singular simple present shrieks, present participle shrieking, simple past and past participle shrieked)

1. (intransitive) To utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry, as do some birds and beasts; to scream, as in a sudden fright, in horror or anguish.
   • At this she shriek'd aloud; the mournful train / Echoed her grief.
2. (transitive) To utter sharply and shrilly; to utter in or with a shriek or shrieks.
   • 1817, Thomas Moore, Lalla-Rookh

     She shrieked his name to the dark woods.

Derived terms

• ashriek

Translations

Anagrams

• Ihrkes, hikers, shrike

English

Etymology

From Middle English yollen, past participle of yellen (“to yell”). More at yell, yollen.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?l

Noun

yowl (plural yowls)

1. A prolonged, loud cry, like the sound of an animal; a wail; a howl.

Translations

Verb

yowl (third-person singular simple present yowls, present participle yowling, simple past and past participle yowled)

1. (intransitive) Utter a yowl.
2. (transitive) Express by yowling; utter with a yowl.

Derived terms

• yowler

Translations

Anagrams

• Lowy, owly