crow

From Middle English crowe, from Old English crāwe, from Proto-West Germanic *krāā, from Proto-Germanic *krēǭ (compare West Frisian krie, Dutch kraai, German Krähe), from *krēaną (“to crow”). See below.

“Ay,” put in a young man, who had the reputation of being the smartest “crow” in London—“‘fishers of men,’ as the parson says.”

1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of his Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 53:

By nine o'clock on the evening of November 12, 1854, Pierce had his confederates in their places. The crow, Agar's woman, lounged across the street from the Trent mansion.

1975, Michael Crichton, The Great Train Robbery:

(now rare, slang) Someone who keeps watch while their associates commit a crime; a lookout.


crow

Coordinate term: raven

"Though her her crow hair is lovely and wavy, she loathes it and craves yellow locks. Since she saw Hugh, she's given me no peace.” Sheffield's square , good-looking face shaped a grimace.

1945, George Marsh, Ask No Quarter, New York, W. Morrow & Company:

[…] only her crow hair could be seen. Her appearance could not be seen as she anxiously called out, "Mother ..." The setting sun cast a dim yellow light on the interior of the house. The woman lay on her back and looked up at the beams overhead[…]

2019 December 6, Shi Shuifeiyan, Escaped Consort: Hubby, Don’t Chase Me: Volume 3, Funstory, →ISBN:

(uncommon) Dark black, the color of a crow; crow-black.


crow

en-verb

crow (third-person singular simple present crows, present participle crowing, simple past crowed or (UK) crew, past participle crowed or (archaic) crown)

crows (present singular third-person)
crowing (participle present)
crowed (past)
crew (UK past)
crowed (participle past)
crown (archaic participle past)

The verb is from Middle English crowen, from Old English crāwan (past tense crēow, past participle crāwen), from Proto-West Germanic *krāan, from Proto-Germanic *krēaną, from imitative Proto-Indo-European *gerH- (“to cry hoarsely”).
The noun is from Middle English crowe, from the verb.
Compare Dutch kraaien, German krähen, Lithuanian gróti, Russian гра́ять (grájatʹ)). Related to croak.

onomatopoeic

imitative

der

He’s been crowing all day about winning the game of cards.

Touting its sponsorship of local engineering and sustainability programs, Amazon crows about such “investments” as its dog park, playing fields, art installations, and Buckyball-reminiscent domical gardens.

2017 September 27, Julianne Tveten, “Zucktown, USA”, in The Baffler:

Another of my favorite dishes, the Asian chicken salad, was inspired by a skit by comedian Margaret Cho (“This is not the salad of my people…” she crows).

2023 October 7, Ajesh Patalay, quoting Margaret Cho, “The Naked Chef 2.0”, in FT Weekend, HTSI, page 77:

(intransitive) To shout in exultation or defiance; to brag.


crow

onomatopoeic

imitative

The cry or call of a rooster or a cockerel, especially as heard at sunrise.


burp

Originally from American English, of imitative origin.

onom

imitative

Lennon let out a burp after downing the beer.

Sylvanshine would burp and it would seem like more than a burp; it would taste like he'd almost thrown up a little.

2011, David Foster Wallace, The Pale King, page 9:

When they approached, he turned from them and made swallowing noises indispersed with burps.

2016, Thomas Corfield, The World Is Badly Made:


trumpet

From Middle English trumpet, trumpette, trompette (“trumpet”), from Old French trompette (“trumpet”), diminutive of trompe (“horn, trump, trumpet”), from Frankish *trumpa, *trumba (“trumpet”), ultimately imitative.
Cognate with Old High German trumpa, trumba (“horn, trumpet”), Middle Dutch tromme (“drum”), Middle Low German trumme (“drum”), Old Norse trumba (“pipe; trumpet”). More at drum.
Displaced native English beme, from Middle English beme, from Old English bīeme.

onomatopoeic

imitative

(US, slang, often capitalized) A supporter of Donald Trump, especially a fervent one.


pip

en-verb

pip (third-person singular simple present pips, present participle pipping, simple past and past participle pipped)

pips (present singular third-person)
pipping (participle present)
pipped (participle past)
pipped (past)

onomatopoeic

Imitative


tick

en-noun

tick (countable and uncountable, plural ticks)

From Middle English tike, probably from Middle Dutch tike and Middle Low German teke, both ultimately from Latin theca (“cover”). Compare also German Zieche (“duvet, pillowcase”).


quack

From Middle English *quacken, queken (“to croak like a frog; make a noise like a duck, goose, or quail”), from quack, qwacke, quek, queke (“quack”, interjection and noun), also kek, keke, whec-, partly of imitative origin and partly from Middle Dutch quacken (“to croak, quack”), from Old Dutch *kwaken (“to croak, quack”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwakōn, from Proto-Germanic *kwakaną, *kwakōną (“to croak”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kwoakje, kwaakje (“to quack”), Middle Low German quaken (“to quack, croak”), German quaken (“to quack, croak”), Danish kvække (“to croak”), Swedish kväka (“to croak, quackle”), Norwegian kvekke (“to croak”), Icelandic kvaka (“to twitter, chirp, quack”).

cog

Did you hear that duck make a quack?


quack

en-verb

quack (third-person singular simple present quacks, present participle quacking, simple past and past participle quacked)

quacks (present singular third-person)
quacking (participle present)
quacked (participle past)
quacked (past)
quaake (alternative)

(intransitive) Of a queen bee: to make a high-pitched sound during certain stages of development.


quack

Clipping of quacksalver (see there for more), of Dutch origin; ultimately related to Etymology 1 above.

հեքիմ

fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine

That doctor is nothing but a lousy quack!

1662, Rump: or an Exact Collection of the Choycest Poems and Songs Relating to Late Times, Vol. II, by ‘the most Eminent Wits’
Tis hard to say, how much these Arse-wormes do urge us, We now need no Quack but these Jacks for to purge us, …

After ſome Months, the Quack gets privately to Town, [...]

‘if we are ourselves valets, there shall ‘exist no hero for us; we shall not know the hero when we see him;’ - we shall take the quack for a hero; and cry, audibly through all ballot-boxes and machinery whatsoever, Thou art he; be thou King over us!

1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. 8, The Electon”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):

The advertising quack who wearies / With tales of countless cures, / His teeth, I've enacted, / Shall all be extracted / By terrified amateurs.

1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, “A More Humane Mikado”, in […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC, Act II, page 36:

Polly (to security guard, referring to Dr. Feingarten): Are you going to let that shyster in there?
Dr. Feingarten: I could sue you, Polly. A shyster is a disreputable lawyer. I'm a quack.

"I don't want to get into specifics, but when I was born, my parts were considered... ambiguous. The quack of a doctor that delivered me, had trouble assigning a gender. So at his recommendation - and surgical intervention - I was raised as a boy."

2017 March 1, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain (webcomic), Comic 920 - Quack:

(derogatory) A fraudulent healer, especially a bombastic peddler in worthless treatments, a doctor who makes false diagnoses for monetary benefit, or an untrained or poorly trained doctor who uses fraudulent credentials to attract patients

The very quaik of faſhions, the very hee that / VVeares a Steletto on his chinne.

c. 1635–1636 (date written), Iohn Ford [i.e., John Ford], The Fancies, Chast and Noble: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] P[urslowe] for Henry Seile, […], published 1638, →OCLC, Act III, page 32:

(figuratively, derogatory) Any similar charlatan or incompetent professional.

That quack wants me to quit smoking, eat less, and start exercising. The nerve!

(humorous slang, mildly derogatory) Any doctor.


quack

quacks (present singular third-person)
quacking (participle present)
quacked (participle past)
quacked (past)

Seek out for Plants with Signatures
To Quack of Universal Cures

1684, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, London, Part 3, Canto 1, p. 18:

(obsolete) To make vain and loud pretensions.


boom

boom (third-person singular simple present booms, present participle booming, simple past and past participle boomed)

booms (present singular third-person)
booming (participle present)
boomed (participle past)
boomed (past)

Onomatopoeic, perhaps borrowed; compare German bummen, Dutch bommen (“to hum, buzz”). The sense "a period of economic growth" is generally taken to derive from the sense "a rapid expansion", although other origins have also been suggested.

Thunder boomed in the distance and lightning flashes lit up the horizon.

The cannon boomed, recoiled, and spewed a heavy smoke cloud.

Beneath the cliff, the sea was booming on the rocks.

I can hear the organ slowly booming from the chapel.

Did you ever hear a bittern booming?

1902, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles:

I was about to reach for the marmalade, when I heard the telephone tootling out in the hall and rose to attend to it. “Bertram Wooster's residence,” I said, having connected with the instrument. “Wooster in person at this end. Oh hullo,” I added, for the voice that boomed over the wire was that of Mrs Thomas Portarlington Travers of Brinkley Court, Market Snodsbury, near Droitwich – or, putting it another way, my good and deserving Aunt Dahlia.
[...]
 “I'd give a tenner to have Aubrey Upjohn here at this moment.” “You can get him for nothing. He's in Uncle Tom's study.” Her face lit up. “He is?” [Aunt Dahlia] threw her head back and inflated the lungs. “UPJOHN!” she boomed, rather like someone calling the cattle home across the sands of Dee, and I issued a kindly word of warning. “Watch that blood pressure, old ancestor.”

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “I AND XVII”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

(transitive, figuratively, of speech) To exclaim with force, to shout, to thunder.


boom

→ German: Boom

Indonesian: bum

→ Japanese: ブーム (būmu)

→ Polish: boom

→ Russian: бум (bum)


boom

Borrowed from Dutch boom (“tree; pole”). Doublet of beam.

(by extension) A microphone supported on such a pole.


bam

The wind knocked the tree over last night. Bam! It nearly scared me to death.

We all looked up from the maps, silent, and listened to the hurried footsteps in the entryway. They padded up the red carpet, bam-bam-bam, and across the landing and then up the next flight at a gallop, bam-bam-bam.

2007, Joe Biden, Promises to Keep, New York: Random House, published 2008, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 266:

Representing a loud noise or heavy impact.


cry

cry (third-person singular simple present cries, present participle crying, simple past and past participle cried)

cries (present singular third-person)
crying (participle present)
cried (participle past)
cried (past)
cry (infinitive)

Sranan Tongo: krei

The verb is from Middle English crien (13th century), from Old French crier, from Vulgar Latin *crītāre, generally thought to derive from Classical Latin quirītāre (Proto-West Germanic *krītan has also been suggested as a source). The noun corresponds to Middle English cry, crie, from Old French cri, a deverbal of crier.
etymology note
Middle English crien eventually displaced native Middle English galen (“to cry out”) (from Old English galan), Middle English greden (“to cry out”) (from Old English grǣdan), Middle English yermen (“to bellow, mourn, lament”) (from Old English ġierman), Middle English hooen, hoen (“to cry out”) (from Old Norse hóa), Middle English remen (“to cry, shout”) (from Old English hrīeman, compare Old English hrēam (“noise, outcry, lamentation, alarm”)), Middle English greten, graten (“to weep, cry, lament”) (from Old English grǣtan and Old Norse gráta). More at greet, regret.
Already in the 13th century, the meaning was extended to include the sense "to shed tears" (natively weep); cry used in this sense had mostly replaced weep by the 16th century.

cog

That sad movie always makes me cry.

This heart-breaking moment gets me crying.

That made me cried when I been traumatized about suicidal thoughts.

If somebody cries in a bathtub they saw a ghost.

- Emerl: “There’s nothing worse than making a girl cry!” That’s what Sonic said...

2003, Sonic Team, Sonic Battle, Sega, published 2003, Game Boy Advance, level/area: Cream’s Story:

(intransitive) To shed tears; to weep. Especially in anger or sadness

And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 27:46:

(ambitransitive) To shout, scream, yell.

the young ravens which cry

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 147:9:

In a cowslip's bell I lie / There I couch when owls do cry.

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

(intransitive) To utter inarticulate sounds, as animals do.


cry

I heard a cry from afar.


poop

en-noun

poop (countable and uncountable, plural poops)

Russian: пуп (pup)

Uncertain, possibly from Middle English poupen (“to make a gulping sound while drinking, blow on a horn, toot”). Compare Dutch poepen (“to defecate”), German Low German pupen (“to fart; break wind”). Also representing poo pronounced with the mouth snapped closed at the end.

cog

Two minutes passed - five - seven - ten. "Poop! Poop!" Everyone knew that whistle, and a mighty cheer went up as the Queen's train glided into the station.

2001, Rev. W. Awdry, Thomas the tank engine collection : a unique collection of stories from the railway series - p. 157 - Egmont Books, Limited, Aug 15, 2001:

The sound of a steam engine's whistle, typically low-pitched.


thunder

en-noun

thunder (countable and uncountable, plural thunders)

→ Alemannic German: Thönder

→ Japanese: サンダー (sandā)

→ Tagalog: tanders

→ Tok Pisin: tanda

From Middle English thunder, thonder, thundre, thonre, thunnere, þunre, from Old English þunor (“thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunr, from Proto-Germanic *þunraz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten-, *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”).
Compare astound, astonish, stun. Germanic cognates include West Frisian tonger, Dutch donder, German Donner, Old Norse Þórr (English Thor), Danish torden, Norwegian Nynorsk tore. Other cognates include Persian تندر (tondar), Latin tonō, detonō, Ancient Greek στένω (sténō), στενάζω (stenázō), στόνος (stónos), Στέντωρ (Sténtōr), Irish torann, Welsh taran, Gaulish Taranis. Doublet of donner, Thunor, and Thor.

Thunder is preceded by lightning.

With each clap of thunder echoing from one high building to another the noise was terrific.

1953 July, Allen Rowley, “First Impressions of American Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 493:

The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt.

Off in the distance, he heard the thunder of hoofbeats, signalling a stampede.

A deep, rumbling noise resembling thunder.

The revenging gods / 'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend.

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

(obsolete) The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.


thunder

en-verb

thunder (third-person singular simple present thunders, present participle thundering, simple past and past participle thundered)

thunders (present singular third-person)
thundering (participle present)
thundered (participle past)
thundered (past)
thunder (infinitive)

It thundered continuously.

(impersonal) To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity.

"Get back to work at once!", he thundered.

(intransitive, transitive) To say (something) with a loud, threatening voice.

jyristä

transitive: say something with a loud, threatening voice

thunderer

to say something with a loud, threatening voice


cough

The noun is derived from Middle English cough (“a cough; illness causing coughing”) [and other forms], from coughen (verb): see etymology 1.
The interjection is probably derived from the noun.

nb...

caughe, cogh, coghe, coght, cohw, coughe, couhe, couth, couwe, couȝe, couȝhe, cowh, cowȝe, coȝgth, kogh, koghe, koghwhe, kouhe, kouȝh, kouȝhe, kouȝwhe, kuowh, kowh

He was—cough—indisposed.

Used to represent the sound of a cough (noun sense 1), especially when focusing attention on a following utterance, often an attribution of blame or a euphemism: ahem.


bell

→ Fiji Hindi: belo

→ Japanese: ベル (beru)

→ Korean: 벨 (bel)

From Middle English belle, from Old English belle (“bell”), from Proto-Germanic *bellǭ. Cognate with West Frisian belle, bel, Dutch bel, Low German Belle, Bel, Danish bjelde, Swedish bjällra, Norwegian bjelle, Icelandic bjalla.

campanilian

related to a peal of bells or bell tower


bell

en-verb

bell (third-person singular simple present bells, present participle belling, simple past and past participle belled)

bells (present singular third-person)
belling (participle present)
belled (participle past)
belled (past)

From Middle English bellen, from Old English bellan (“to bellow; make a hollow noise; roar; bark; grunt”), from Proto-Germanic *bellaną (“to sound; roar; bark”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to sound; roar; bark”). Cognate with Scots bell (“to shout; speak loudly”), Dutch bellen (“to ring”), German Low German bellen (“to ring”), German bellen (“to bark”), Swedish böla (“to low; bellow; roar”).

der

This animal is said to harbour in the place where he resides. When he cries, he is said to bell; the print of his hoof is called the slot; his tail is called the single; his excrement the fumet; his horns are called his head [...].

1774, Oliver Goldsmith, A History of the Earth, and Animated Nature:

As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled / Once, twice and again!

1894 May, Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published June 1894, →OCLC:

You acted part so well, went alɬ-fours upon earth / The live-long day, brayed, belled.

1872, Robert Browning, Fifine at the Fair:

Then, incredibly, a rutting stag belled by the trunks.

1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 128:


bell

The bellow or bay of certain animals, such as a hound on the hunt or a stag in rut.


whistle

en-noun

whistle (countable and uncountable, plural whistles)

From Middle English whistel, whistil, whistle, from Old English hwistle, from the verb (see below).

it's not the whistle that pulls the train

We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine.[…]As we reached the lodge we heard the whistle, and we backed up against one side of the platform as the train pulled up at the other.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

A shrill, high-pitched sound made by whistling.

the whistle of the wind in the trees

Any high-pitched sound similar to the sound made by whistling.


whistle

en-verb

whistle (third-person singular simple present whistles, present participle whistling, simple past and past participle whistled)

whistles (present singular third-person)
whistling (participle present)
whistled (participle past)
whistled (past)

From Middle English whistlen, from Old English hwistlan, hwistlian (“to whistle”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwistlōn, from Proto-Germanic *hwistlōną (“to make a hissing sound”). Cognate with Swedish vissla (“to whistle”), Icelandic hvísla (“to whisper”), Russian свистеть (svistetʹ, “to whistle”).

cog

Whistle in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Never whistle at a funeral.

She was whistling a happy tune.

(ambitransitive) To make a shrill, high-pitched sound by forcing air through the mouth. To produce a whistling sound, restrictions to the flow of air are created using the teeth, tongue and lips.

The steam train whistled as it passed by.

It requires quite an orchestra to get a train to start; the guard blows his horn, the stationmaster rings a large bell, and the engine whistles.

1941 February, Voyageur, “The Railways of Greece”, in Railway Magazine, page 67:

(ambitransitive) To make a similar sound by forcing air through a musical instrument or a pipe etc.


ring

From Middle English ringen, from Old English hrinġan (“to ring”), from Proto-Germanic *hringijaną. Cognate with Dutch ringen, Swedish ringa. Of imitative origin.

the ring of acclamations fresh in his ears

1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:

Any loud sound; the sound of numerous voices; a sound continued, repeated, or reverberated.

St Mary's has a ring of eight bells.

as great and tunable a ring of bells as any in the world

1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):

A chime, or set of bells harmonically tuned.


ring

en-verb

ring (third-person singular simple present rings, present participle ringing, simple past rang or (nonstandard) rung, past participle rung)

rings (present singular third-person)
ringing (participle present)
rang (past)
rung (nonstandard past)
rung (participle past)

զանգել

(tr.) to make something produce a resonant sound

They rang a Christmas carol on their handbells.

(transitive) To produce (a sound) by ringing.

[…] And many an old philosophy
On Argive heights divinely sang,
And round us all the thicket rang
To many a flute of Arcady.

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXIII, page 40:

So he spoke, and it seemed there was a little halting at first, as of men not liking to take Blackbeard's name in Blackbeard's place, or raise the Devil by mocking at him. But then some of the bolder shouted 'Blackbeard', and so the more timid chimed in, and in a minute there were a score of voices calling 'Blackbeard, Blackbeard', till the place rang again.

[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:

It is instructive for us to learn as well as to ponder on the fact that "the very men who looked down with delight, when the sand of the arena reddened with human blood, made the arena ring with applause when Terence in his famous line: ‘Homo sum, Nihil humani alienum puto’ proclaimed the brotherhood of man."

1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:

(intransitive) to resound, reverberate, echo.


cuckoo

en-noun

cuckoo (countable and uncountable, plural cuckoos)

From Middle English cokkou, kokkow, cukkuk, gokkouȝ, probably from Old French cocu, coquu, cucu (whence French coucou); ultimately onomatopoeic of the song of the male Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), perhaps via Latin cucūlus (“cuckoo”). Compare dialectal English gowkoo (“cuckoo”). Displaced Middle English gnokken (“cuckoo”) and native Middle English yeke, ȝek (from Old English ġēac (“cuckoo”)), see English gowk.
The UK sense is by analogy from the bird's practice of brood parasitism.

He knows me, as the blind man knows the cuckoo, / By the bad voice.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

Cuculus canorus
Cuculus canorus#Translingual

Any of various birds, of the order Cuculiformes, famous for laying its eggs in the nests of other species; but especially a common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), that has a characteristic two-note call.

The bird-shaped figure found in cuckoo clocks.

Alternative form of coo-coo (Barbadian food)


cuckoo

en-verb

cuckoo (third-person singular simple present cuckoos, present participle cuckooing, simple past and past participle cuckooed)

cuckoos (present singular third-person)
cuckooing (participle present)
cuckooed (participle past)
cuckooed (past)

She'll have been cuckooed. That'll be the Knezevics. They can't launder fast enough, so what do you do with it? Where do you put it? You hide it in somebody else's place; somebody who han't got a clue what's going on and couldn't do a fat lot about it if they did.

2023, Sally Wainwright, 26:06 from the start, in Happy Valley, season 3, episode 2, spoken by Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire):

(UK, law enforcement) To take over the home of a vulnerable person for the purposes of carrying out organized crime in a concealed way.


twang

Onomatopoeic. Compare Middle English twengen (“to pinch, tweak”), from Old English twenġen (“to pinch, twinge”); Middle English twingen (“to afflict, torment, oppress”), from Old Norse þvinga (“to weigh down, oppress”); Old English twingan (“to force, press”).

cog

Let me give you in rude recitation, with here and there a twang and a caper of the guitar-strings, my vision of the Cid's sally from his besieged castle of Alcocer—the first outburst of that Spanish deluge that never receded till it rose over the dead body of the last Moor.

1860, [George] Walter Thornbury, “Life in Spain: Past and Present”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square, →OCLC, page 148:

The sharp, quick sound of a vibrating tight string, for example, of a bow or a musical instrument.

(music) A particular sharp vibrating sound characteristic of electric guitars.

Near-synonym: nasality

nasal twang

(phonetics) The sound quality that appears in the human voice when the epilaryngeal tube is narrowed.


twang

en-verb

twang (third-person singular simple present twangs, present participle twanging, simple past and past participle twanged)

twangs (present singular third-person)
twanging (participle present)
twanged (participle past)
twanged (past)

(ambitransitive) To produce or cause to produce a sharp vibrating sound, like a tense string pulled and suddenly let go.

brnknout

to produce or cause to produce a sharp vibrating sound

(music) To play a stringed musical instrument by plucking and snapping.

näppäillä

music: to play a stringed musical instrument by plucking and snapping


low

low (third-person singular simple present lows, present participle lowing, simple past and past participle lowed)

lows (present singular third-person)
lowing (participle present)
lowed (participle past)
lowed (past)

From Middle English lowen (“to low”), from Old English hlōwan (“to low, bellow, roar”), from Proto-Germanic *hlōaną (“to call, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call”).
Cognate with Dutch loeien (“to low”), Middle High German lüejen (“to roar”), dialectal Swedish lumma (“to roar”), Latin calō (“I call”), Ancient Greek καλέω (kaléō), Latin clāmō (“I shout, claim”). More at claim.

inh

The cattle were lowing.

In peals of thunder now she roars--and now / She gently whimpers like a lowing cow

1726, Jonathan Swift, “The Lamentations of Glumdalclitch for the Loss of Grildrig”, in Gulliver's Travels, A Voyage to Brobdingnag:

The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea.

1750, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

It would have been a great privilege to be the mistress of an old time-honoured mansion, to call oaks and elms her own, to know that acres of gardens were submitted to her caprices, to look at herds of cows and oxen, and be aware that they lowed on her own pastures.

1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “The Honourable Mr. Glascock”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC, page 107:


gaggle

en-verb

gaggle (third-person singular simple present gaggles, present participle gaggling, simple past and past participle gaggled)

gaggles (present singular third-person)
gaggling (participle present)
gaggled (participle past)
gaggled (past)

From Middle English gagelen (“to cackle; cackle like a goose”). Compare Dutch gaggelen (“to cackle”), Icelandic gagl (“small goose; gosling”).

inh

Geese do gaggle

1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

When a friend asked Socrates, how he could bear the scolding of his wife Xantippe? he retorted, and asked him, how he could bear the gaggling of his geese?

1733, Jonathan Swift, "A New Simile for the Ladies with Useful Annotations by Dr. Sheridan", note 7 (in The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Vol. II)

To make a noise like a goose; to cackle.


squelch

en-verb

squelch (third-person singular simple present squelches, present participle squelching, simple past and past participle squelched)

squelches (present singular third-person)
squelching (participle present)
squelched (participle past)
squelched (past)

Unknown. Perhaps a blend of squash + quell + quench. Compare also English squolsh, English squoosh.

Even the king's announcement could not squelch the rumors.

Oh 'twas your luck and mine to be squelched.

c. 1615–1616, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, “The Nice Valour, or, The Passionate Mad-man”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene i:

If you deceive us you will be squelched.

1858–1865, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:

The party’s dominant right wing squelched not only Sherman’s hopes for an early convention, but may have also put the MLA out of contention for the leadership.

1982 December 11, Frances Russell, “Economic performance buoys Pawley’s position”, in The Vancouver Sun (The Weekend Sun), Vancouver, BC, page A6:

We believe that Facebook is using privacy as a pretext to squelch research that it considers inconvenient.

2021 August 10, Laura Edelson, Damon McCoy, “We Research Misinformation on Facebook. It Just Disabled Our Accounts.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(transitive, US) To halt, stop, eliminate, stamp out, or put down, often suddenly or by force.

(transitive, radio technology) To suppress the unwanted hiss or static between received transmissions by adjusting a threshold level for signal strength.

sintonizar

radio technology: suppress hiss or static


squelch

en-noun

squelch (countable and uncountable, plural squelches)

(radio technology) The suppression of the unwanted hiss or static between received transmissions by adjusting the gain of the receiver.

Through a process of experimentation the 'acid squelch' sound came forth, which was recorded and passed on to DJ Ron Hardy to play at his Warehouse club.

1998, Colin Larkin, The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music, page 91:

(countable, music) A kind of electronic beat or sound mainly used in acid house and related music genres.


splash

Probably an alteration of plash (compare spatter, spill for the initial s-).

I felt a splash of rain, so I put up my hood.

I felt a splash of water on my leg as the car drove into the nearby puddle.

Add the tomato purée and cook for a further 4-5 minutes. Add a splash of whisky to the pan, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to deglaze.

2014 August 17 (last accessed), Chris Morrison, “recipe, Grilled fillet of halibut and langoustine tails with smoked haddock risotto and shellfish froth”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), archived from the original on 2013-07-07:


moo

(onomatopoeia) The characteristic lowing sound made by cattle.

خُوَار

characteristic sound made by a cow or bull

You silly moo! What did you do that for?

'Aurora House does not expel,' said the sanctimonious moo, 'but you will be medicated, if your behaviour warrants it, for your own protection.'

2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN:

(UK, slang, mildly derogatory) A foolish woman.


moo

en-verb

moo (third-person singular simple present moos, present participle mooing, simple past and past participle mooed)

moos (present singular third-person)
mooing (participle present)
mooed (participle past)
mooed (past)

(intransitive) Of a cow or bull, to make its characteristic lowing sound.


moo

The characteristic sound made by a cow or bull.


echo

en-noun

echo (countable and uncountable, plural echoes or echos)

echoes (plural)
echos (plural)
echoe (alternative)
eccho (alternative)

From Middle English eccho, ecco, ekko, from Medieval Latin ecco, from Latin echo, from Ancient Greek ἠχώ (ēkhṓ), from ἠχή (ēkhḗ, “sound”). Possibly from the same Proto-Indo-European root as sough.

(figurative) An insignificant indirect result; a ripple.


echo

en-verb

echo (third-person singular simple present echoes, present participle echoing, simple past and past participle echoed)

echoes (present singular third-person)
echoing (participle present)
echoed (participle past)
echoed (past)
echoe (alternative)
eccho (alternative)

With each clap of thunder echoing from one high building to another the noise was terrific.

1953 July, Allen Rowley, “First Impressions of American Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 493:

(intransitive) Of a sound or sound waves: to reflect off a surface and return; to reverberate or resound.


pop

en-noun

pop (countable and uncountable, plural pops)

From Middle English pop, poppe (“a blow; strike; buffet”) (> Middle English poppen (“to strike; thrust”, verb)), of onomatopoeic origin – used to describe the sound, or short, sharp actions. The physics sense is part of a facetious sequence "snap, crackle, pop", after the mascots of Rice Krispies cereal.

cog

Coordinate term: cloop

Listen to the pop of a champagne cork.

(countable) A loud, sharp sound, as of a cork coming out of a bottle, especially when the contents are pressurized by fizziness.


pop

Pop, would go one of the eight-inch guns; a small flame would dart and vanish, a little white smoke would disappear, a tiny projectile would give a feeble screech - and nothing happened.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 203:

So he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged and then he scrooged again and scrabbled and scratched and scraped, working busily with his little paws and muttering to himself, 'Up we go! Up we go!' till at last, pop! his snout came out into the sunlight, and he found himself rolling in the warm grass of a great meadow.

1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 2:

A loud, sharp sound, as of a cork coming out of a bottle.


crash

From Middle English crasshen, crasschen, craschen (“to break into pieces”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a variant of earlier *crasken, from crasen (“to break”) + -k (formative suffix); or from earlier *craskien, *craksien, a variant of craken (“to crack, break open”) (for form development compare break, brask, brash).

suffix

The piece ended in a crescendo, building up to a crash of cymbals.

After the lightning came the crash of thunder.

A sudden, intense, loud sound, as made for example by cymbals.


bang

From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bungen (“to throb, pulsate”).
In the sense of a fringe of hair, from bang off.
In the sense of abrupt left turn, from Boston left and associated risk of a crash.

gl

"to hammer"; whence modern Swedish <i class="Latn mention" lang="sv">banka</i> (“to knock, pound, bang”)

Audio (US)

He pointed his finger at her like a gun and said, “Bang!”

Bang! Away he goes with a mighty bound. Leo has missed him. Bang! right under him again. Now for a shot. I must have one, though he is going like an arrow, and a hundred yards away and more.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

“Just like parade it had been a minute before then stumble, bang, swish! Wiped out!” he said.

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 84:

Serve him right. Transgression—punishment—bang! Pitiless, pitiless.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 215:

We help to kill the bloody bandits. Bang, bang, bang.

1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 17:

A sudden percussive sound, such as made by the firing of a gun, slamming of a door, etc.


clap

From Middle English clappen, from Old English clæppan, from Proto-Germanic *klappōną. Cognate with Dutch klappen, Icelandic klappa, Faroese klappa and Danish klappe.

The deafening claps of thunder and the dazzling flashes of lightning which lit up the ghastly scene testified that the artillery of heaven had lent its supernatural pomp to the already gruesome spectacle.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[[Episode 12: The Cyclops]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

Off in the distance, he heard the clap of thunder.

Give the door such a clap, as you go out, as will shake the whole room.

1731 (date written; published 1745), [Jonathan] Swift, Directions to Servants […], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], and M. Cooper, […], →OCLC:

Any loud, sudden, explosive sound made by striking hard surfaces together, or resembling such a sound.

“Oh! get some coo clap (cow dung), mix it wi’ fish oil (whale oil), put it on, and let it stop on all neet.”

1890, John Nicholson, Folk Lore of East Yorkshire, page 139:

(Yorkshire) A dropping of cow dung (presumably from the sound made as it hits the ground)


drone

en-verb

drone (third-person singular simple present drones, present participle droning, simple past and past participle droned)

drones (present singular third-person)
droning (participle present)
droned (participle past)
droned (past)

From Middle English drounen (“to roar, bellow”), from Proto-West Germanic *drunnjan, from Proto-Germanic *drunjaną (“to drone, roar, make a sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“to roar, hum, drone”).
Cognate with Scots drune (“to drone, moan, complain”), Dutch dreunen (“to drone, boom, thud”), Low German drönen (“to drone, buzz, hum”), German dröhnen (“to roar, boom, rumble”), Danish drøne (“to roar, boom, peel out”), Swedish dröna (“to low, bellow, roar”), Icelandic drynja (“to roar”).


drone

He chanted as he flew and the car responded with sonorous drone.

1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows:

(music, uncountable) A genre of music that uses repeated lengthy droning sounds.

The monotonous drone of the wheel.

1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, (please specify either |part=I or II):


achoo

atchoo (alternative)
ahchoo (alternative)
hachoo (alternative)
ah-choo (alternative)
a-choo (alternative)

Achoo—I think I'm coming down with something!


knock

en-noun

knock (countable and uncountable, plural knocks)

From Middle English knokken, from Old English cnocian, ġecnocian, cnucian (“to knock, pound on, beat”), from Proto-West Germanic *knokōn, from Proto-Germanic *knukōną (“to knock”), a suffixed form of *knu-, *knew- (“to pound on, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnew-, *gen- (“to squeeze, pinch, kink, ball up, concentrate”). The English word is cognate with Middle High German knochen (“to hit”), Old English cnuian, cnuwian (“to pound, knock”), Old Norse knoka (compare Danish knuge (“to squeeze”), Swedish knocka (“to hug”)).

It came to me, like a knock on the door / Erasing all that had gone before / Broken wings can be mended / But this love of ours, we've got to defend it

1976, Ashford & Simpson (lyrics and music), “It Came To Me”, in Come As You Are:

An abrupt rapping sound, as from an impact of a hard object against wood.

(automotive, uncountable) Preignition, a type of abnormal combustion occurring in spark ignition engines caused by self-ignition; also, the characteristic knocking sound associated with it.


peep

From Middle English pepen. Compare Dutch piepen (“peep”), German Low German piepen (“to peep”), German piepen and pfeifen, all probably onomatopoeic.

With a "peep" from a high-pitched whistle, the train would leave by the crossover to the down line, […].

1954 March, W. A. Tuplin, “Recollections of the Wirral Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 168:

"Peep, peep," said Edward, "I'm ready."
"Peep, peep, peep," said Henry, "so am I."

2001, Rev. W. Awdry, Thomas the tank engine collection : a unique collection of stories from the railway series - p. 177 - Egmont Books, Limited, Aug 15, 2001:

The sound of a steam engine's whistle; typically shrill.


peep

Back-formation of peeps, a shortened form of people.


chortle

Perhaps a blend of chuckle + snort. Coined by Lewis Carroll in his poem Jabberwocky, completed in 1855 but only introduced to the public in his 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass.

He frequently interrupted himself with chortles while he told us his favorite joke.

A joyful, somewhat muffled laugh, rather like a snorting chuckle.

A similar sounding vocalisation of various birds.


chortle

en-verb

chortle (third-person singular simple present chortles, present participle chortling, simple past and past participle chortled)

chortles (present singular third-person)
chortling (participle present)
chortled (participle past)
chortled (past)

The old fellow chortled as he recalled his youthful adventures.

'O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy.

(intransitive) To laugh with a chortle or chortles.


baa

[bæ̰ˀæ̰ˀæ̰ˀæ̰ˀ]

Compare German bäh, mäh; an imitative word.

(onomatopoeia) The characteristic cry or bleating of a sheep.


baa

[bæ̰ˀæ̰ˀæ̰ˀæ̰ˀ]

(onomatopoeia) The characteristic cry of a sheep.


baa

baa (third-person singular simple present baas, present participle baaing, simple past and past participle baaed)

baas (present singular third-person)
baaing (participle present)
baaed (participle past)
baaed (past)
bah (alternative)

[bæ̰ˀæ̰ˀæ̰ˀæ̰ˀ]

He treble baas for help, but none can get.

a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:

The lamb bunted several irresponsive objects - never its dam's udder - baaing listlessly.

1902, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Bush Studies (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 44:

To make the characteristic cry of a sheep.


bleat

bleat (third-person singular simple present bleats, present participle bleating, simple past and past participle bleated)

bleats (present singular third-person)
bleating (participle present)
bleated (participle past)
bleated (past)
blate (alternative)
blait (alternative)

From Middle English bleten, from Old English blǣtan (“to bleat”), from Proto-West Germanic *blātijan, from Proto-Germanic *blētijaną (“to bleat”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to howl, cry, bleat”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to make a loud noise”).
Cognate with Scots blete, bleit, West Frisian bâlte, blaaien, blêtsje (“to bleat”), Dutch blaten (“to bleat”), Low German bleten (“to bleat”), German blaßen, blässen (“to bleat”).

der

The last thing we need is to hear them bleating to us about organizational problems.

(informal, derogatory) Of a person, to complain.


bray

en-verb

bray (third-person singular simple present brays, present participle braying, simple past and past participle brayed)

brays (present singular third-person)
braying (participle present)
brayed (participle past)
brayed (past)

The verb is derived from Middle English brayen, brai, bray, braye (“of a person or animal: to vocalize loudly; of the weather: to make a loud sound, howl, roar”), from Old French brai, braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to cry or shout out”) (modern French braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to shout; to cry, weep”)), possibly from Vulgar Latin *bragiō, from Gaulish *bragu (compare Breton breugiñ (“to bray”), brammañ (“to flatulate”), Cornish bramma, brabma (“to flatulate”), Old Irish braigid (“to flatulate”)), from Proto-Celtic *brageti, *bragyeti (“to flatulate”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreHg- (“to flatulate; to stink”); cognate with Latin fragrō (“to smell”). Alternatively, the word could be from a Germanic source, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), and cognate with frangere (“to break, shatter”).
The noun is derived from the verb, or from Middle English brai, brait (“shriek; outcry”), from Old French brai, brait (“a cry”), from braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to shout; to cry, weep”); see above.

der

Whenever I walked by, that donkey brayed at me.

When she went to the famous ass-race [...], it was not, like other ladies, to hear those poor animals bray, nor see fellows run naked, or to hear country squires in bob wigs and white girdles make love at the side of a coach and cry, "Madam, this is dainty weather."

1712 April 27 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, April 16, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 354; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume IV, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 293:

Henry [IV of France], paſſing through a little town, ſaw ſeveral deputies coming up to harangue him. One of them having commenced his diſcourſe, was interrupted by an aſs, who began to bray. "Gentlemen," cried the King, "one at a time, if you pleaſe."—

1792 July, “Art. II. Interesting Anecdotes of Henry IV. of France. Containing Sublime Traits and Lively Sallies of Wit of that Monarch; […]. Translated from the French. Crown 8vo. 2 Vols. 6s. Boards. Debrett. 1792. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume VIII, London: Printed for R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T[homas] Becket, […], published 1794, →OCLC, page 249:

The horse neighs, but the ass brays: the last is performed by a very loud, long, disagreeable, discordant cry, consisting of discords alternately sharp and flat. He seldom brays but when pressed with hunger or love. [...] When gelded, the ass brays with a low voice; and, though he makes the same efforts and the same motions of the throat, yet the sound reaches to no great distance.

1812, Count de Buffon [i.e., Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon], “The Ass”, in William Smellie, transl., Natural History, General and Particular, […]. The History of Man and Quadrupeds: Translated, with Notes and Observations, […] In Twenty Volumes, volume IV, London: Printed for T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, page 174:

(intransitive) Of an animal (now chiefly of animals related to the ass or donkey, and the camel): to make its cry.

[N]ow ſtorming furie roſe, / And clamour ſuch as heard in Heav'n till now / Was never, Arms on Armour claſhing bray'd / Horrible discord, and the madding Wheeles / Of brazen Chariots rag'd; [...]

1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 207–211:

Just then the chiefs their tribes arrayed, / And wild and garish semblance made, / The chequered trews, and belted plaid, / And varying notes the war-pipes brayed, / To every varying clan; [...]

1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Fifth. The Court.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, stanza V, page 247:

(transitive) To make or utter (a shout, sound, etc.) discordantly, loudly, or in a harsh and grating manner.

крещя

to make or utter (a shout, etc.) discordantly, loudly, or in a harsh and grating manner


bray

The cry of an animal, now chiefly that of animals related to the ass or donkey, or the camel.


bray

From Middle English brayen (“to break or crush into pieces”), from Anglo-Norman breier, Old French breie, breier, broiier (modern French broyer (“to crush, grind”)), possibly from Frankish *brekan (“to break”), from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”); thus making the English word a doublet of break.

der

Though thou ſhouldeſt bray a fool in a morter among wheate with a peſtell, yet will not his fooliſhneſſe depart from him.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 27:22:

Their heads and ſhoulders are painted red with the roote Pocone brayed to powder, mixed with oyle, this they hold in ſommer to preſerue them from the heate, and in winter from the cold.

1624, Iohn Smith, “The Commodities in Virginia, or that May Be Had by Industrie”, in The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, book 2; reprinted in The Generall Historie of Virginia, … (Bibliotheca Americana), Cleveland, Oh.: The World Publishing Company, 1966, →OCLC, page 30:

They boyle it alſo, and after dry it and bray it, and of this bran, with egges, hony, milke, and butter of Cocos, they make Florentines, and verie good belly-timber.

1625, Samuel Purchas, “Their Cocos and other fruits and food, their Trades and trading, Creatures profitable and hurtfull. Of Male their principall Iland. Their Houſes, Candou, Languages, Apparell.”, in Pvrchas his Pilgrimes. In Five Bookes. … The Second Part., volume II, London: Printed by William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, page 1643 [sic: 1653]:

(transitive, archaic) To crush or pound, especially using a pestle and mortar.

счуквам

to crush or pound — see also crush, pound


hee-haw

en-noun

hee-haw (countable and uncountable, plural hee-haws)

hee-haws (plural)
heehaw (alternative)
hee haw (alternative)

/ˈhiː.hɔ̰̃ː/

Apart from one cool fight sequence, she pretty much does hee-haw - just like Iron Man.

2010 April 30, Grant Lauchlan, Daily Record:

People like Dick Advocaat, who knew hee-haw about Scottish football's history, set about whittling away little bits of our tradition on the grounds... well, let's be honest, that they were an inconvenience.

2010 September 27, Bill Leckie, The Scottish Sun:


bark

From Middle English barken, berken, borken, from Old English beorcan (“to bark”), from the Proto-West Germanic *berkan (“to bark”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerg- (“to make a noise, growl, bark”), from *bʰer- (“to drone, hum, buzz”). Cognate with Icelandic berkja (“to bark, bluster”), Icelandic barki (“throat, windpipe”), dialectal Lithuanian burgė́ti (“to growl, grumble, grouch, quarrel”), Serbo-Croatian brbljati (“to murmur”). For the noun, compare Old English beorc, bearce (“barking”)..

listen/core

recorded barks (noun sense 1) of a dog

Fox’s clumsy figure, negligently dressed in blue and buff, seemed unprepossessing; only his shaggy eyebrows added to the expression of his face; his voice would rise to a bark in excitement.

c. 1921, The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, volume 11:

Long before Shap platform showed up around a corner and the two arms on the gradient post drooped in both directions at once, Duchess of Buccleuch's amiable throbbing purr at the stack [funnel, chimney] had become a fierce freight-engine bark, as she resolutely dragged at her enormous load.

1949 January and February, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–1”, in Railway Magazine, page 12:

(figuratively) An abrupt loud vocal utterance.


bark

en-noun

bark (countable and uncountable, plural barks)

From Middle English bark, from Old English barc (“bark”), from Old Norse bǫrkr (“tree bark”), from Proto-Germanic *barkuz, probably related to *birkijǭ (“birch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵós (compare Latin frāxinus (“ash”), Lithuanian béržas (“birch”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵ- (“to gleam; white”) (compare English bright); akin to Danish bark, Icelandic börkur, Low German borke and Albanian berk (“bast”).

(medicine) Peruvian bark or Jesuit's bark, the bark of the cinchona from which quinine is produced.

Hard candy made in flat sheets, for instance out of chocolate, peanut butter, toffee or peppermint.


crack

en-verb

crack (third-person singular simple present cracks, present participle cracking, simple past and past participle cracked)

cracks (present singular third-person)
cracking (participle present)
cracked (participle past)
cracked (past)

From Middle English crakken, craken, from Old English cracian (“to resound, crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną (“to crack, crackle, shriek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to resound, cry hoarsely”).
Cognate with Scots crak (“to crack”), West Frisian kreakje (“to crack”), Dutch kraken (“to crunch, creak, squeak”), Low German kraken (“to crack”), German krachen (“to crash, crack, creak”), Lithuanian gìrgžděti (“to creak, squeak”), Old Armenian կարկաչ (karkačʻ), Sanskrit गर्जति (gárjati, “to roar, hum”).
Compare typologically English crevice derived from Latin crepō, Bulgarian пукнатина (puknatina) akin to пу́кам (púkam), Russian тре́щина (tréščina) akin to треск (tresk), щель (ščelʹ) akin to щёлкать (ščólkatʹ).

cog

there's more than one way to crack an egg

you've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette

The bat cracked with authority and the ball went for six.

(intransitive) To make a cracking sound.

to crack a whip

Hershell cracked his knuckles, a nervous habit that drove Inez crazy[…]

(transitive) To cause to make a sharp sound.


crack

en-noun

crack (countable and uncountable, plural cracks)

The crack of the falling branch could be heard for miles.

(onomatopoeia) The sharp sound made when solid material breaks.

трясък

The crack of the bat hitting the ball.

She broke to love in the opening game, only for Bartoli to hit straight back in game two, which was interrupted by a huge crack of thunder that made Lisicki jump and prompted nervous laughter from the 15,000 spectators.

2011 June 28, Piers Newbery, “Wimbledon 2011: Sabine Lisicki beats Marion Bartoli”, in BBC Sport:


belch

From Middle English belchen, from Old English bielċan, from Proto-Germanic *balkijaną, *belkaną, probably ultimately of imitative origin.
Related to Dutch balken (“to bray”), Middle Low German belken (“to shout”), Low German bölken (“to shout, bark”), Old English bealċettan (“to utter, send forth”). See also English bolk, boak.

onomatopoeic

imitative

cog

The hotel coffee machine gurgles out an acrid belch.

2016 March 11, Jennifer Coates, “I Am A Transwoman. I Am In The Closet. I Am Not Coming Out.”, in Medium:

An instance of belching; the sound that it makes.


cock-a-doodle-doo

cockadoodledoo (alternative)
cocka-doodle-doo (alternative)
cock a doodle doo (alternative)
cocka doodle doo (alternative)
cock-a-doodle-do (alternative)
cockadoodledo (alternative)
cock a doodle do (alternative)
cocka-doodle-do (alternative)
cocka doodle do (alternative)

Hark, hark, I heare, the ſtraine of ſtrutting Chanticlere cry cockadidle-dowe.

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 5, column 1:

Chook, chook, quack, quack, / Cock-a-doodle-doo; / All the ducks and the fowls / Admire me, they do.

1875 July 23, Sydney Punch, page 1, column 1:


cock-a-doodle-doo

cock-a-doodle-doos (plural)
cockadoodledoo (alternative)
cocka-doodle-doo (alternative)
cock a doodle doo (alternative)
cocka doodle doo (alternative)
cock-a-doodle-do (alternative)
cockadoodledo (alternative)
cock a doodle do (alternative)
cocka-doodle-do (alternative)
cocka doodle do (alternative)


bok

onomatopoeic

Imitative

Alternative form: bawk

And he says, "Chicken! Bok bok bok bok!" One time I got up and put the controller down and we started fighting.

2000, William S Pollack, Todd Shuster, Real boys' voices:

So the librarian gives the chicken a book. The chicken goes away, but comes back the next day, goes up to the librarian's desk and says: 'Bok, bok!'

2004, Andrew Bennett, Nicholas Royle, An introduction to literature, criticism and theory:


ook

Imitative of the cry of an ape or monkey.

Imitative

He tapped the Librarian on the shoulder. "Excuse me —" "Ook?" "Those guys just called you a monkey," said Glod.

The irate ape cries, "Ook ook! Ai ai ai!" He springs off the edge of the stone basin, clawing Cantare across the face and bursting through the door.

2004, Robert Arellano, Don Dimaio of La Plata:

Fingers pinched my eyelashes and lifted one eyelid. I looked straight into a big, leathery black face surrounded by brown fur. “Ook?” asked the monkey.

2014, Victoria Wessex, Shipwrecked with the Billionaire Rock Star:

(onomatopoeia) Used to represent the sound of the cry of an ape or monkey.

ウキー

used to represent the sound of the cry of an ape or monkey — see also oo oo aa aa


meow

Alteration of earlier mew, from Middle English mewen, mouwen (“to mew, meow”), of onomatopoeic origin.
Compare Saterland Frisian mauje, miauje (“to meow”), West Frisian miaukje (“to meow”), Dutch miauwen (“to meow”), Middle Low German mauwen, mawen, mouwen (“to meow”) (whence modern German Low German mauen, miauen (“to meow”)), Middle High German mouen, modern German miauen (“to meow”). Some spellings were modelled on French miaou.
Meow and its spelling variants entered widespread currency in the 19th century, mostly replacing mew. Possibly because phonetic change meant that word had ceased to approximate a cat's cry. Contrast the pronunciation of Middle English mewen /ˈmɛu̯ən/ compared to modern /ˈmjuː/).

miaow (alternative)
miaou (alternative)
meaw (alternative)
meeow (alternative)

(colloquial) Used to express seductiveness, mimicking a growl.


meow

en-noun

meow (countable and uncountable, plural meows)

meows (plural)
miaow (alternative)
miaou (alternative)
meaw (alternative)
meeow (alternative)

A cat’s meow and a cow’s moo, I can recite them all / Just tell me where it hurts you, honey

1968, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Quinn the Eskimo”:

These days every Fantasia screening begins with a cacophony of meows — timed by the audience to start and stop at black leader.

2024 January 8, Alison Foreman, “Why Do Audiences at Fantasia Fest … Meow?”, in IndieWire:

(UK, slang, uncountable) The drug mephedrone.


meow

en-verb

meow (third-person singular simple present meows, present participle meowing, simple past and past participle meowed)

meows (present singular third-person)
meowing (participle present)
meowed (participle past)
meowed (past)
miaow (alternative)
miaou (alternative)
meaw (alternative)
meeow (alternative)

“The last thing they had seen in 2012 before that break was a short from Simon’s Cat called ‘Cat Man Do,’” said Lamothe. “When you leave 800 people in the dark, they will do something. That’s what Fantasia is. But because they had just seen that cat go meow, they meowed.”

The cat meows at me and bird-watches by the window facing the street. Sometimes I bird-watch with him because the older I get, the more interested I get in birds lol.

2024 May 8, R29 Team, “A Week In Boston On An $81,000 Salary”, in Refinery29:

(intransitive) Of a cat, to make its cry.


miaow

(chiefly dated) British spelling of meow


miaow

miaow (third-person singular simple present miaows, present participle miaowing, simple past and past participle miaowed)

miaows (present singular third-person)
miaowing (participle present)
miaowed (participle past)
miaowed (past)


purr

purr (third-person singular simple present purrs, present participle purring, simple past and past participle purred)

purrs (present singular third-person)
purring (participle present)
purred (participle past)
purred (past)

listen/core

recorded purring of a cat

He purred like a kitten when she massaged his neck.

(intransitive) To make a vibrating throaty sound, as from pleasure.

Beverly passed the city limits sign with the Porsche's motor purring contentedly after its two hundred and fifty-mile romp.

2001, E. C. Craver, Last Reunion, page 159:

(intransitive, of an engine) To make a low and consistent rumbling sound.

бръмча

of an engine: to make a low rumbling sound


purr

recorded purring of a cat

Instead, the tiger looked around, and gave a purr, and then a growl. What did that mean? The man could not tell. Then the tiger just flung upon the man some of the sand from the side of the hollow.

1918, Sarath Kumar Ghosh, The wonders of the jungle - Volume 2, page 113:

The vibrating sound made by a cat in its throat when contented.

خَرْخَرَة

vibrating sound made by a cat when contented

The trill of her purr echoed inside his mouth when he kissed her again. Clutching at his shirt, her fingers traveled the muscles in his back.

2006, Brenda Williamson, Wolverton Blood, page 53:

A throaty, seductive sound of pleasure made by a person.


purr

recorded purring of a cat


caw

en-verb

caw (third-person singular simple present caws, present participle cawing, simple past and past participle cawed)

caws (present singular third-person)
cawing (participle present)
cawed (participle past)
cawed (past)

Rising and cawing at the gun's report.

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

To make the harsh cry of a crow, rook, or raven.

نَعَقَ

to make the cry of a crow, rook, or raven


caw

"Amen," said M., in a grave and solemn tone. "Caw," croaked the jackdaw immediately, and with such a sonorous effect, that it disturbed our pious mien and upset our gravity.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 36:

A rendering of the vocalisation of a crow or other corvid.


croak

From Middle English *croken, crouken, (also represented by craken > crake), back-formation from Old English crācettan (“to croak”) (also in derivative crǣcettung (“croaking”)), from Proto-Germanic *krēk- (compare Swedish kråka, German krächzen), from Proto-Indo-European *greh₂-g- (compare Sanskrit गर्जति (garjati, “to growl”); also compare Latin grāculus (“jackdaw”), Serbo-Croatian grákati from *greh₂-k-), of onomatopoeic origin.

The call of a frog or toad. (see also ribbit)


neigh

neigh (third-person singular simple present neighs, present participle neighing, simple past and past participle neighed)

neighs (present singular third-person)
neighing (participle present)
neighed (participle past)
neighed (past)

From Middle English neighen, from Old English hnǣġan, from Proto-Germanic *hnaijan, from Proto-Germanic *hnajjaną (“to neigh”). Cognate with dialectal Dutch neien, Middle Low German neigen, Swedish gnägga, Icelandic hneggja.

"I went into the stable first to see to the horse, and found him neighing and waiting for his hay, so I went up into the hay-loft for an armful[.]"

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 33:


roar

roar (third-person singular simple present roars, present participle roaring, simple past and past participle roared)

roars (present singular third-person)
roaring (participle present)
roared (participle past)
roared (past)

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

From Middle English roren, raren, from Old English rārian (“to roar; wail; lament”), from Proto-West Germanic *rairōn, from Proto-Germanic *rairōną (“to bellow; roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *rey- (“to shout; bellow; yell; bark”), perhaps of imitative origin.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian roorje (“to roar”), German röhren (“to roar”).

onomatopoeic

imitative

Sole on the barren ſands the ſuff'ring chief / Roar'd out for anguiſh, and indulg'd his grief.

a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 434:

(intransitive) To make a loud, deep cry, especially from pain, anger, or other strong emotion.

This last action will roar thy infamy.

I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

(transitive) To cry aloud; to proclaim loudly.

Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
Stole a pig, and away he run!
The pig was eat, and Tom was beat,
And Tom went roaring down the street.

1886, James Orchard Halliwell, “Third Class: Tales: LX”, in The Nursery Rhymes of England:

(British Yorkshire, North Midlands, informal) To cry.


roar

imitative

A long, loud, deep shout, as of rage or laughter, made with the mouth wide open.


grunt

From Middle English grunten, from Old English grunnettan (“to grunt”), from Proto-West Germanic *grunnattjan, from Proto-Germanic *grunnatjaną (“to grunt”), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *grunnōną (“to grunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrun- (“to shout”).
Cognate with German grunzen (“to grunt”), Danish grynte (“to grunt”). The noun senses are all instances of zero derivation from the verb.

der

Any fish of the perciform family Haemulidae.

Coordinate term: pogue

The poges stare at the grunts as though the grunts were Hell's Angels at the ballet.

1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 39:

The events described are those encountered by only 160 men, though the adversity recounted is representative of that experienced by all grunts in Vietnam.

1984, Charles Robert Anderson, The Grunts, Berkley Books, →ISBN, page xii:

He can't make that kind of decision. He's just a grunt!

1986, James Cameron, Aliens, spoken by Burke (Paul Reiser):

(US, military slang) An infantry soldier.

(Canada, US) A dessert of steamed berries and dough, usually blueberries; blueberry grunt.


grunt

en-verb

grunt (third-person singular simple present grunts, present participle grunting, simple past and past participle grunted)

grunts (present singular third-person)
grunting (participle present)
grunted (participle past)
grunted (past)

Who just grunted?

(intransitive, UK, slang) To break wind; to fart.


cacophony

en-noun

cacophony (countable and uncountable, plural cacophonies)

From French cacophonie, from Ancient Greek κακοφωνία (kakophōnía), from κακός (kakós, “bad”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”), equivalent to caco- + -phony.

1921-1922, H. P. Lovecraft, Herbert West: Reanimator,
Not more unutterable could have been the chaos of hellish sound if the pit itself had opened to release the agony of the damned, for in one inconceivable cacophony was centered all the supernal terror and unnatural despair of animate nature.

The Japanese got their attack in first. About ten minutes after passing the U.S. aircraft, they spotted Hornet (local weather patterns temporarily concealing Enterprise). Things had improved a little bit compared to the Eastern Solomons, and three dozen F4F Wildcats on combat air patrol were vectored onto the oncoming hostiles, but once that initial task was accomplished, things began to collapse back into the cacophony and chaos that was all too familiar to those aboard the Enterprise, meaning that the end result was round about the same[…]

2021 February 3, Drachinifel, 10:55 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - Santa Cruz (IJN 2 : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-12-04:

A blistering start from the Scots served to steady the ship amid a cacophony that defied the quarter-full national stadium.

2021 June 14, Scott Mullen, “Scotland 0-2 Czech Republic”, in BBC Sport:


nya

From the Japanese onomatopoeia にゃ (nya).

(anime and manga fandom) The cry of a cat; meow, miaow.


maa

en-verb

maa (third-person singular simple present maas, present participle maaing, simple past and past participle maaed)

maas (present singular third-person)
maaing (participle present)
maaed (participle past)
maaed (past)

[mæ̰ː ~ mæˀæˀæ]

Now it's even worse! The goat maas all the time. And the smell...

1992, Josepha Sherman, A Sampler of Jewish-American Folklore, page 126:

Now the twins started to cry and Malachy clung to Mam, sobbing. The cows mooed, the sheep maaed […]


scold

scolds (plural)
scould (alternative)
scolde (alternative)

The noun is from Middle English scold(e), skald(e), first attested in the 12th or 13th century (as scold, scolde, skolde, skald). The verb is from Middle English scolden, first attested in the late 1300s. Most dictionaries derive the verb from the noun and say the noun is probably from Old Norse skald (“poet”) (cognate with Icelandic skáld (“poet, scop”)), as skalds sometimes wrote insulting poems, though another view is that the Norse and English words are cognate to each other and to Old High German skeltan, Old Dutch skeldan, all inherited from Proto-Germanic *skeldaną (“scold”).

A ſclaunderous tunge, a tunge of a ſkolde,
Worketh more miſchiefe than can be tolde;
That, if I wiſt not to be controlde,
Yet ſomwhat to ſay I dare well be bolde,

c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.

How ſome delite for to lye, thycke and threfolde.

“Well, I won’t have it, and that’s enough.” She laughed, for her voice had a little been that of the professional scold.

1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part II, XVIII [Uniform ed., p. 196]

Consider the contrast with the United States, where deficit scolds dominated Beltway discourse in 2010–2011 but never managed to dictate the terms of political debate […]

2015 September 14, Paul Krugman, “Labour's dead centre [print version: International New York Times, 15 September 2015, p. 9]”, in The New York Times:

A person who habitually scolds, in particular a troublesome and angry woman.


whine

From Middle English whynen, hwinen, whinen, from Old English hwīnan (“to rush, to whizz, to squeal, to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan, from Proto-Germanic *hwīnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with Old Norse hvína, whence Icelandic hvína, Norwegian Nynorsk kvina, Swedish vina, and Danish hvine. Despite the strong similarity in sound and meaning, not related with German weinen, Dutch wenen, from Proto-Germanic *wainōną (for which see dialectal English ween (“to weep, lament”)).

der

The 18-year-old [Justin] Bieber can’t quite pull off the “adult” thing just yet: His voice may have dropped a bit since the days of “Baby,” but it still mostly registers as “angelic,” and veers toward a pubescent whine at times.

2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2020-08-06:

A long-drawn, high-pitched complaining cry or sound.


whine

en-verb

whine (third-person singular simple present whines, present participle whining, simple past and past participle whined)

whines (present singular third-person)
whining (participle present)
whined (participle past)
whined (past)
whine (infinitive)

(intransitive) To utter a high-pitched cry.

The jet engines whined at take off.

(intransitive) To make a sound resembling such a cry.

[S]he was one of your ſoft ſpoken, canting, whining hypocrites, who with a truly jeſuitical art, could wreſt evil out of the moſt inoffenſive thought, word, look or action; […]

1765, Catherine Jemmat, The Memoirs of Mrs. Catherine Jemmat, Daughter of the Late Admiral Yeo, of Plymouth. Written by Herself, 2nd edition, volume I, London: Printed for the author, at Charing-Cross, →OCLC, page 145:

Feel awfully about Scott... I always knew he couldn't think—he never could—but he had a marvelous talent and the thing is to use it—not whine in public.

1936 Feb. 15, Ernest Hemingway, letter to Maxwell Perkins

(intransitive) To complain or protest with a whine (compare whinge) or as if with a whine.

хленча

to complain or protest with a whine or as if with a whine

The jet whined into the air.

The wind whined and moaned through the trees.

(intransitive) To move with a whining sound.


arf

Synonym of woof (“sound of a dog's bark”)

Synonym of woof (“expressing strong physical attraction”)


trill

From Middle English trillen, from Italian trillo, trillare. Compare German trillern, Norwegian trille, Swedish trilla.

(phonetics) A type of consonantal sound that is produced by vibrations of the tongue against the place of articulation: for example, Spanish ⟨rr⟩, /r/.


chink

en-noun

chink (countable and uncountable, plural chinks)

She swallow, set the cup down like she want to break it, and the ice-blocks jump, make a chink sound.

2020, Abi Daré, The Girl With The Louding Voice, Sceptre, page 138:

(countable) A slight sound as of metal objects touching each other; a clink.


cheep

The short, high-pitched sound made by a small bird.


stridulation

stridulation (countable and uncountable, plural stridulations)

1838, from earlier term stridulous; from Latin strīdulus (“giving a shrill sound, creaking”), from strīdō (“utter a shrill or harsh sound; creak, shriek, grate, hiss”).

uder

The Demons were crying now too, a stridulation that rose above the clamor and seemed to pierce the skull.

1994, John Christopher, A Dusk of Demons:

A high-pitched chirping, grating, hissing, or squeaking sound, as male crickets and grasshoppers make by rubbing certain body parts together.

цвърчене

chirping, grating, or squeaking sound made by crickets and grasshoppers


din

en-noun

din (countable and uncountable, plural dins)

From Middle English dynne, dyne, dyn, from Old English dyne, from Proto-West Germanic *duni, from Proto-Germanic *duniz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰún-is, from *dʰwen- (“to make a noise”).
Cognate with English tone, Sanskrit धुनि (dhúni, “sounding”), ध्वनति (dhvánati, “to make a noise, to roar”), Old Norse dynr, Norwegian Nynorsk dynja, Swedish dån, dön.

Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

[B]red to war, / He knew the battle’s din afar, / And joyed to hear it swell.

1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Fifth. The Court.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, stanza IV, page 245:

How often, hither wandering down,
My Arthur found your shadows fair,
And shook to all the liberal air
The dust and din and steam of town:

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto LXXXVII, page 129:

The patter of feet, and clatter of strap and swivel, seemed to swell into a bewildering din, but they were almost upon the fielato offices, where the carretera entered the town, before a rifle flashed.

1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:

So many faces Clive had never seen by daylight, and looking terrible, like cadavers jerked upright to welcome the newly dead. Invigorated by this jolt of misanthropy, he moved sleekly through the din, ignored his name when it was called, withdrew his elbow when it was plucked [...]

1998, Ian McEwan, Amsterdam, New York: Anchor, published 1999, Part 1, Chapter 1, pp. 9-10:

England certainly made a mockery of the claim that they might somehow be intimidated by the Glasgow din. Celtic Park was a loud, seething pit of bias.

2014 November 18, Daniel Taylor, “England and Wayne Rooney see off Scotland in their own back yard”, in The Guardian:

A loud noise; a cacophony or loud commotion.


din

en-verb

din (third-person singular simple present dins, present participle dinning, simple past and past participle dinned)

dins (present singular third-person)
dinning (participle present)
dinned (participle past)
dinned (past)

From Middle English dynnen, from Old English dynnan, from Proto-Germanic *dunjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwen- (“to make a noise”).

der

1820, William Wordsworth, “The Waggoner” Canto 2, in The Miscellaneous Poems of William Wordsworth, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Volume 2, p. 21,
For, spite of rumbling of the wheels,
A welcome greeting he can hear;—
It is a fiddle in its glee
Dinning from the CHERRY TREE!

My confused senses received a dull roar of pounding feet and dinning voices as the herald of victory.

1920, Zane Grey, “The Rube’s Pennant”, in The Redheaded Outfield and Other Baseball Stories, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 68:

Should she speak of having been at the fire herself—or should she not? The question dinned in her brain so loudly that she could hardly hear what her companion was saying […]

1924, Edith Wharton, chapter 4, in Old New York: New Year’s Day (The ’Seventies), New York: D. Appleton & Co., pages 62–63:

(intransitive) To make a din, to resound.

The room was dinning with the strains of an invisible orchestra and the vocal uproar […]

1914, Rex Beach, chapter 3, in The Auction Block, New York: Harper & Bros., page 33:

(intransitive) (of a place) To be filled with sound, to resound.

1716, Joseph Addison, The Free-Holder: or Political Essays, London: D. Midwinter & J. Tonson, No. 8, 16 January, 1716, pp. 45-46,
She ought in such Cases to exert the Authority of the Curtain Lecture; and if she finds him of a rebellious Disposition, to tame him, as they do Birds of Prey, by dinning him in the Ears all Night long.

Oh ye! whose ears are dinn’d with uproar rude,
Or fed too much with cloying melody,—
Sit ye near some old cavern’s mouth, and brood
Until ye start, as if the sea-nymphs quired!

1817, John Keats, “On the Sea”, in Richard Monckton Milnes, editor, Life, Letters, and Literary Remains, of John Keats, volume 2, London: Edward Moxon, published 1848, page 291:

No alarm-clock dinned her to get up but the morning light woke her, pouring through the uncurtained glass.

1938, Graham Greene, chapter 1, in Brighton Rock, New York: Vintage, published 2002:

(transitive) To assail (a person, the ears) with loud noise.

This has been often dinned in my Ears.

1724, The Hibernian Patriot: Being a Collection of the Drapier’s Letters to the People of Ireland concerning Mr. Wood’s Brass Half-Pence, London: Jonathan Swift, published 1730, Letter 2, p. 61:

“Mamma, do you forget that I have promised to marry Roger Hamley?” said Cynthia quietly.
“No! of course I don’t—how can I, with Molly always dinning the word ‘engagement’ into my ears? […]”

1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, chapter 50, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC:

By careful early conditioning, by games and cold water, by the rubbish that was dinned into them at school and in the Spies and the Youth League, by lectures, parades, songs, slogans, and martial music, the natural feeling had been driven out of them.

1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 6, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001:

His mother had dinned The Whole Duty of Man into him in early childhood.

2004, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, Penguin, page 183:

(transitive) To repeat continuously, as though to the point of deafening or exhausting somebody.


pow

Whap, Biff, Ooooof, Sock, Pow, Zok! Batman is back. Gotham City is again leaving its law and order in the hands of a man who wears plastic underpants over his tights.

1989 June 5, The Canberra Times, Australia Captial Territory, page 10, column 2:

The sound of a violent impact, such as a punch.

Pow, they took off.

1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 71:


beep

en-verb

beep (third-person singular simple present beeps, present participle beeping, simple past and past participle beeped)

beeps (present singular third-person)
beeping (participle present)
beeped (participle past)
beeped (past)

The motorists in the traffic jam were getting more and more frustrated and started beeping their horns.

(intransitive, transitive) To produce a beep sound.


whack

Uncertain. Originally Scottish; probably onomatopoeic, but compare Middle English thakken < Old English þaccian (whence Modern thwack by conflation with whack). Sense 6 of the verb is likely a semantic loan from Malay hentam (“to strike; to do something carelessly”).

sl

Saka was a threat from the first whistle; Ukraine rightly wary of him and dishing out the usual whacks.

March 26 2023, David Hytner, “Kane and Bukayo Saka combine against Ukraine for England’s perfect Euros start”, in The Guardian:


eaw

From the sound. An early print use was in a 1988 instruction booklet for the video game Zelda II; probably used earlier.


swish

en-noun

swish (countable and uncountable, plural swishes)

A short rustling, hissing or whistling sound, often made by friction.

As she trotted down the white path, each swish of her tail sent petals dancing through the air, falling where the bride would walk.

2011, A. C. August, The Highway Cross, page 116:

A hissing, sweeping movement through the air, as of an animal's tail.


swish

"Just like parade it had been a minute before then stumble, bang, swish! Wiped out!" he said.

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 84:

A hissing or whistling sound of something travelling quickly through the air.


yell

From Middle English ȝellen, yellen, from Old English ġiellan, from Proto-Germanic *gellaną. Cognate with Saterland Frisian gälje (“to yell”), Dutch gillen (“to yell”), German Low German gellen (“to yell”), German gellen (“to yell”).


fizzle

en-verb

fizzle (third-person singular simple present fizzles, present participle fizzling, simple past and past participle fizzled)

fizzles (present singular third-person)
fizzling (participle present)
fizzled (participle past)
fizzled (past)

Attested in English since 1525-35. From earlier fysel (“to fart”). Related to fīsa (“to fart”). Compare with Swedish fisa (“to fart (silently)”). See also feist.
It could also come from old Norse: "fise" simply means "blow," like in "blow in the wind." A weather-exposed community in Rogaland, Norway, is called Fister. (In modern language, the verb "fisle" has the same 3 meanings as in English, see below.)

The soda fizzled for several minutes after it was poured.

It is the easest thing, sir, to be done, / As plain as fizzling.


birdsong

en-noun

birdsong (countable and uncountable, plural birdsongs)

birdsongs (plural)
bird song (alternative)

Vocalisations made by birds, considered collectively.


jar

jar (countable and uncountable, plural jars)

From earlier jar, jur, jarre, jurre, of uncertain origin. Possibly from earlier *char, *chur, *charre, *churre (now spelt chirr, churr (“to make a sound”); compare also nightjar and its variant nightchurr), from Middle English *chirren, *cherren, *churren (“to sound, cry, murmur, complain”), from Old English ċeorian (“to murmur, gripe, complain with just cause”), from Proto-West Germanic *karēn (“to complain”). For the change of ch to j, compare also charm, jarm (“chirping”); achar, ajar (“slightly turned or open”), chaw, jaw, etc. The noun is derived from the verb.

inh

(countable) A clashing or discordant set of sounds, particularly with a quivering or vibrating quality.


toll

Probably the same as Etymology 3. Possibly related to or influenced by toil

The act or sound of ringing a bell, especially slowly, as with a church or cemetery bell.

звон

колоко́льный


toll

en-verb

toll (third-person singular simple present tolls, present participle tolling, simple past and past participle tolled)

tolls (present singular third-person)
tolling (participle present)
tolled (participle past)
tolled (past)

The ringer tolled the workers back from the fields for vespers.

When hollow murmurs of their evening bells
Dismiss the sleepy swains, and toll them to their cells.

1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

(transitive) To summon by ringing a bell.

The bells tolled the King’s death.

Slow tolls the village-clock the drowſy hour;
The partridge burſts away on whirring wings;
Deep mourns the turtle in ſequeſter'd bower,
And ſhrill lark carols clear from her aereal tour.

1771, James Beattie, The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genius. A Poem. Book the First, London: […] E[dward] & C[harles] Dilly, […]; Edinburgh: A[lexander] Kincaid and W[illiam] Creech; and J[ohn] Bell, […], →OCLC, stanza XLI, page 21:

(transitive) To announce by ringing a bell.


eek

onomatopoeic

Imitative

Eek! There's a mouse in the bathtub!

Representing a scream or shriek (especially in comic strips and books).

Representing the shrill vocal sound of a mouse, rat, or monkey.


eek

en-verb

eek (third-person singular simple present eeks, present participle eeking, simple past and past participle eeked)

eeks (present singular third-person)
eeking (participle present)
eeked (participle past)
eeked (past)

onomatopoeic

Imitative

She was dangling the mouse by its tail, but as it tried to arch upwards and bite, she started to jig about wildly […] The anglers had watched a beautiful young woman dance naked beneath a full moon to the feverish rhythm of unworldly eeking noises!

2009, Paul Gelder, Yachting Monthly's Further Confessions:

We saw a frog and she eeked in terror again from the sight of it hopping near her.

2011, Isaac E. Washington, The Stars in My Dreams, page 106:

“Sorry, love, they all look the same to me,” said Dad, desperately trying to spot one with a particularly pink nose. “Armitage? ARMITAGE!” called Zoe. All the rats eeked. Every single one of them wanted to escape.
“We’ll just have to set them all free,” said Zoe.

2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

To produce a high-pitched squeal, as in fear or trepidation.


ribbit

The students fell momentarily silent while he finished writing on the board. Then, "Ribbit!"

Used to anonymously and disrespectfully break silence, as in educational or ceremonial settings.


oink

Mom swallowed a spoonful of pudding and looked Daddy straight in the eye. "Oink, oink," she said, to let him know he was being a male chauvinist pig.

"The tub is too small!" "Then, I'll go first and you'll have to wait!" "Chauvinist pig!" "Oink, oink!"

2003, Robert N. Mansfield, Randy Maas, The Assassin: Attack on America:

You are such a male chauvinist oink, oink. You think that you are the only one who can drive a car or fly an airplane.

2005, Alinka Zyrmont, Forbidden Passion:

Drawing attention to male chauvinism (from the term male chauvinist pig).


click

Imitative of the "click" sound; first recorded in the 1500s. Compare Saterland Frisian klikke (“to click”), Middle Dutch clicken (Modern Dutch: klikken (“to click”)), Old High German klecchen (Modern German: klecken, klicken (“to click”)), Danish klikke (“to click”), Swedish klicka (“to click”), Norwegian klikke (“to click”), Norwegian klekke (“to hatch”).

Imitative

graphical user interface
graphical user interface

(graphical user interface) The act of pressing a button on a computer mouse or similar input device, both as a physical act and a reaction in the software.


click

en-verb

click (third-person singular simple present clicks, present participle clicking, simple past and past participle clicked)

clicks (present singular third-person)
clicking (participle present)
clicked (participle past)
clicked (past)

onomatopoeic

Imitative


nicker

This coat cost me 50 nicker.

Seems? Well, this seems to be a waste of my time. That is 900 nicker in any shop you're lucky enough to find one in. And you're complaining about 200? What school of finance did you study?

1998, Guy Ritchie, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (motion picture), spoken by Tom (Jason Flemyng):


nicker

The cutting lip which projects downward at the edge of a boring bit and cuts a circular groove in the wood to limit the size of the hole that is bored.


nicker

From Middle English niker, from Old English nicor, from Proto-Germanic *nikwis. Cognate with German Nix (“water demon”) and German Nixe (“mermaid”); also related to Old Norse nykr (“water demon”) (see there for further descendants). Doublet of nix.

And in another tale, told at Kemnitz of the Nicker, as he is there called, when he asks the midwife how much he owes her, she answers that she will take no more from him than from other people.

1891, Edwin Sidney Hartland, The Science of Fairy Tales, page 48:

A type of mythological sea creature or sea monster; also, a water sprite; a nix or nixie; a mermaid or merman.


complain

en-verb

complain (third-person singular simple present complains, present participle complaining, simple past and past participle complained)

complains (present singular third-person)
complaining (participle present)
complained (participle past)
complained (past)

From Middle English complaynen, from Old French complaindre, from Medieval Latin complangere (“to bewail, complain”), from Latin com- (“together”) + plangere (“to strike, beat, as the breast in extreme grief, bewail”); see plain, plaint.

der

you'd complain if you were hung with a new rope

the complaining bed-springs

To creak or squeak, as a timber or wheel.


boo

en-verb

boo (third-person singular simple present boos, present participle booing, simple past and past participle booed)

boos (present singular third-person)
booing (participle present)
booed (participle past)
booed (past)

From earlier (15c.) boh, coined to create a loud and startling sound. Compare Middle English bus! (“bang!”, interjection), Latin boō (“cry aloud, roar, shout”, verb), Ancient Greek βοάω (boáō, “shout”, verb).

onomatopoeic

startling

noncog

When he took the podium, the crowd booed.

Nobody booed and nobody clapped

Substitute Charlie Austin scored seven minutes into his Southampton debut as a lacklustre Manchester United were booed off at Old Trafford.

2016 January 23, Phil Dakwes, “Man Utd 0–1 Southampton”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), BBC Sport:

(intransitive) To shout extended boos derisively.


bloop

en-verb

bloop (third-person singular simple present bloops, present participle blooping, simple past and past participle blooped)

bloops (present singular third-person)
blooping (participle present)
blooped (participle past)
blooped (past)

onom

Imitative

The ducks quack,
The birds chirp,
The fish bloop.

2020, Alex K. Bishop, “The Man, a Bench in the Park”, in Nothing Important: Allegorical poems in the pursuit of meaning, Altona, Manitoba: FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 13:

(onomatopoeia, especially of a fish) To blow air bubbles or audibly slosh about in water.

(informal) To produce a low-pitched beeping sound.


bloop

Imitative

Slowly exhale using short, quick bursts through the mouth, making 'bloop' sounds to mimic a fish each time.

2018 August 21, Nicola Harvey, Mindful Little Yogis: Self-Regulation Tools to Empower Kids with Special Needs to Breathe and Relax, London: Singing Dragon, →ISBN, page 51:

(onomatopoeia) The sound of a fish blowing air bubbles in water.

The robot produced a series of beeps and bloops before giving its answer to the problem.

A fiendish yell then followed / Ev'ry salvo's 'bang' and 'bloop'.

1992, Bob Magor, Blood on the Board, page 39:


bumble

en-verb

bumble (third-person singular simple present bumbles, present participle bumbling, simple past and past participle bumbled)

bumbles (present singular third-person)
bumbling (participle present)
bumbled (participle past)
bumbled (past)

* Verb: Frequentative of boom and/or bum, equivalent to bum + -le.
* Noun: From the verb.

(intransitive) To boom, as a Eurasian bittern.


bumble

(UK, Ireland, dialect) The Eurasian bittern.


chuff

en-adj

chuff (comparative more chuff, superlative most chuff)

more chuff (comparative)
most chuff (superlative)

15th century, dialectal, from Middle English chuffe (“a rustic, boor”), in noun sense “stupid fellow”. Adjective sense “surly, displeased” from 1832.

inh

such chuff Fellows , who would not willingly allow their Children any Pleasures

1728, Francis Gentleman, A Trip to the Moon, page 196:

Says Paddy , “the old one, faith, looks very chuff, though, But loves that big blackguard, I mean Lundy snuff, though;

The chuff old Joe to vex has come, The Doctor—who but he?—Parnell, and all the Irish scum, Have noisy vowed to be.

1878 January 24, “The Song of Big Ben”, in Truth, volume 3, page 114:

Neville Custance is a very chuff Boy indeed as I ever saw, seem displeased & cross with every thing - would not eat a bit of Cake when brought to him.

1978, James Woodforde, edited by John Beresford, The Diary of a Country Parson, 1758-1802, page 387:

(UK, dialect) stupid; churlish; loutish.


chuff

en-noun

chuff (countable and uncountable, plural chuffs)

A breathy noise produced by a tiger, similar in function to a cat's purr.


chuff

1520s, in sense “swollen with fat”; circa 1860, British dialect, in sense “pleased”. Possibly related to “coarse, stupid, fat-headed” sense (see etymology 1 above). Or, perhaps a euphemistic alteration of fuck or another expletive.


crump

And there was another bit [of a hymn]: ‘To an inheritance incorruptible. … Through faith unto salvation, Ready to be revealèd at the last trump.’ For ‘trump’ we always used to sing ‘crump.’ ‘The last crump’ was the end of the war and would we ever hear it burst safely behind us?

1929 November, Robert Graves, chapter XVIII, in Good-bye to All That: An Autobiography, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 251:

Crump, crack! A shell exploded near them and the whole aircraft yawned to port as if somebody had punched it through the sky.

1999, Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes at the Museum:

Above this grey skyline slowly lifting clouds of dirty smoke rose into the morning air as the salvoes of Japanese shells exploded with a delayed crump.

2000, Richard Woodman, The Darkening Sea:

"Now you can see what life is like for us here," said Yakov Shoshani, raising his voice to make himself heard over the sound of a loud crump.

2008, Paul Wood, BBC News., Taking cover on Sderot front line:


crump

en-verb

crump (third-person singular simple present crumps, present participle crumping, simple past and past participle crumped)

crumps (present singular third-person)
crumping (participle present)
crumped (participle past)
crumped (past)

“Mortars crumped, and from the high ground to the east and south came the shriek of 88-millimeter shells, green fireballs that whizzed through the dunes at half a mile a second, trailing golden plumes of dust.”

2007 September 28, William Grimes, “In Middle Leg of the Race, the Prize Was Italy”, in New York Times:


crump

en-adj

crump (comparative more crump, superlative most crump)

more crump (comparative)
most crump (superlative)

a crump loaf

(UK, Scotland, dialect) Hard or crusty; dry baked


crump

From Middle English crump, cromp, croume, from Old English crump, crumb (“stooping, bent, crooked”), from Proto-West Germanic *krump, from Proto-Germanic *krumpaz, *krumbaz (“bent”).
Compare Dutch krom (“bent”), German krumm (“crooked”), Danish krum. Related to cramp.

inh

Crooked backs and crump shoulders.

1701, John Gauden (attributed), Several Letters between Two Ladies Wherein the Lawfulness and Unlawfulness of Artificial Beauty in Point of Conscience are Nicely Debated:


curr

en-verb

curr (third-person singular simple present currs, present participle curring, simple past and past participle curred)

currs (present singular third-person)
curring (participle present)
curred (participle past)
curred (past)

1798, William Wordsworth, The Idiot Boy, first published in 1798, Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, republished in 1827, The Poetical Works of Wordsworth, 1872, page 53,
The owlets hoot, the owlets curr, / And Johnny's lips they burr, burr, burr,

(archaic, intransitive) To coo like an owl.

(archaic, intransitive) To purr like a cat.


gnarl

Something resembling a knot in wood, such as in stone or limbs.


gnarl

gnarl (third-person singular simple present gnarls, present participle gnarling, simple past and past participle gnarled)

gnarls (present singular third-person)
gnarling (participle present)
gnarled (participle past)
gnarled (past)

And wolves are gnarling who shall gnaw thee first.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

(intransitive) To snarl or growl; to gnar.


mew

mew (third-person singular simple present mews, present participle mewing, simple past and past participle mewed)

mews (present singular third-person)
mewing (participle present)
mewed (participle past)
mewed (past)

From Middle English mewen; onomatopoeic.

(of a cat, especially of a kitten) To meow.