Word Direct Answers

shrill

shrill is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 4 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.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.
  2. 2.A shrill sound. [Obs.] Spenser.
  3. 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. 4.To utter or express in a shrill tone; to cause to make a shrill sound. How poor Andromache shrills her dolors forth. Shak.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Related questions

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is shrill.

Sources