What does "shrill" mean?
Shrill: Acute; sharp; piercing; having or emitting a sharp, piercing tone or sound; -- said a sound, or of that which produces a sound. Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give To sounds confused. Shak. Let winds be shrill, let waves roll high. Byron.
Additional senses
- 2.A shrill sound. [Obs.] Spenser.
- 3.To utter an acute, piercing sound; to sound with a sharp, shrill tone; to become shrill. Break we our pipes, that shrilledloud as lark. Spenser. No sounds were heard but of the shrilling cock. Goldsmith. His voice shrilled with passion. L. Wallace.
- 4.To utter or express in a shrill tone; to cause to make a shrill sound. How poor Andromache shrills her dolors forth. Shak.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00