chatter

en-verb

chatter (third-person singular simple present chatters, present participle chattering, simple past and past participle chattered)

chatters (present singular third-person)
chattering (participle present)
chattered (participle past)
chattered (past)

onomatopoeic

imitative

He was so cold that his teeth were chattering.

(intransitive, of teeth, machinery, etc.) To make a noise by rapid collisions.

The jay makes answer, as the magpie chatters with delight.

1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence:

Is your cat intently staring out the window at a bird on a branch and “chattering” in a kind of shaky, high-pitched, breathy way? If so, she is expressing excitement at what she's observing (or maybe the desire to attack what she sees as prey).

2016, David Meyer, Abbie Moore, Pia Salk, The Total Cat Manual, Weldon Owen International, →ISBN:

To utter sounds which somewhat resemble language, but are inarticulate and indistinct.

roezemoezen

to utter sounds that are largely inarticulate


chatter

During the chat sessions, two outreach team members would engage in a conversation about the topic chosen for that event in the main chat room and entice other chatters to join in.

2013, Michael K. Sullivan, Sexual Minorities, page 148:


grumble

Probably from Middle French grommeler, from Old French grumeler (“to murmur, grumble”), from Middle Dutch *grommelen ("to murmur, mutter, grunt"; > Modern Dutch grommelen (“to grumble”)), frequentative of Middle Dutch grommen (“to growl, grunt”). Cognate with Middle Low German grummelen (> Low German grummeln (“to grumble”)), German grummeln (“to grumble”), Norwegian dialectal grymja (“to growl, grunt”).

gloss

"to murmur, mutter, grunt"; > Modern Dutch <i class="Latn mention" lang="nl">grommelen</i> (“to grumble”)

der

(onomatopoeia) A low thundering, rumbling or growling sound.

тътен

a high thundering, rumbling or growling sound


grumble

en-verb

grumble (third-person singular simple present grumbles, present participle grumbling, simple past and past participle grumbled)

grumbles (present singular third-person)
grumbling (participle present)
grumbled (participle past)
grumbled (past)

The distant thunder grumbles.

It made his stomach grumble in protest to think the mule was eating, and here he was worrying about her with an empty belly of his own.

1995, Terry C. Johnston, Dance on the Wind, page 15:

(intransitive) To make a low, growling or rumbling noise, like a hungry stomach or certain animals.

shfryj

to make a low growling or rumbling animal noise

куркам

to make a low growling or rumbling stomach noise

He grumbles about the food constantly, but has yet to learn to cook.

(intransitive) To complain; to murmur or mutter with discontent; to make ill-natured complaints in a low voice and a surly manner.

He grumbled that there was no grain "in the country" and that people were talking instead of working to provide it.

2001, Harry Willcox Pfanz, Gettysburg — the first day:

(transitive) To utter in a grumbling fashion.


shrill

en-adj

shrill (comparative shriller, superlative shrillest)

shriller (comparative)
shrillest (superlative)

From Late Middle English schrille, shirle, shrille (“of a sound: high-pitched, piercing; producing such a sound”), possibly from the earlier shil, schille (“loud, resounding; high-pitched, shrill; audible, clear; melodious, sweet-sounding”), from Old English scill (“sonorous sounding”), of Germanic origin. The r in the word was introduced by analogy to Middle English skrīke, skrīken, scrēmen, possibly to avoid confusion with non-Anglian forms of schelle (modern English shell) where Old English scill (“sonorous sounding”) and scill (“shell”) existed.
The word is cognate with Icelandic skella (“crash, bang, slam”), Low German schrell (“sharp in taste or tone”).

cog

The woods rang with shrill cries of the birds.

Suppoſe, that you haue ſeene / The well-appointed King at Douer Peer, / Embarke his Royaltie: and his braue Fleet, / With ſilken Streamers, the young Phebus fayning; / [...] Heare the ſhrill Whiſtle, which doth order giue / To ſounds confus'd.

1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, prologue], page 77, column 1:

Let winds be shrill, let waves roll high, / I fear not wave nor wind; / Yet marvel not, Sir Childe, that I / Am sorrowful in mind; [...]

1812, Lord Byron, “Canto I”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XIII.4, page 11:

But I discovered no trace of him, and was beginning to conjecture that some fortunate chance had intervened to prevent the execution of his menaces; when suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful scream.

1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VI, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 118:

The clerk had, I'm afraid, a shrew of a wife, shrill, vehement, and fluent.

1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “In which Mr. Dangerfield Visits the Church of Chapelizod, and Zekiel Irons Goes A-fishing”, in The House by the Church-yard [...] In Three Volumes, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC; republished as The House by the Church-yard: A Novel … Three Volumes in One, New York, N.Y.: Carleton, publisher, […] ; London: Tinsley & Co., 1866, →OCLC, page 115:

(figuratively, derogatory, especially of a woman) Fierce, loud, strident.

ostrý

especially of a complaint or demand: fierce, loud, strident


shrill

[W]hen at laſt / I heard a voyce, which loudly to me called, / That with ſuddein ſhrill I was appalled.

1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “The Ruines of Time”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC, part 6:

The shrill of the whistle from the locomotive “Charlestown” announced the arrival of the first train into Fitchburg on 5 March 1845— [...]

2015, Cliff[ord J.] Schexnayder, Builders of the Hoosac Tunnel, Portsmouth, N.H.: Peter E. Randall, →ISBN:

Sonographic example of two consecutive loud shrills of a common marmoset, showing sound frequencies of harmonics reaching into the ultrasonic range.

2018, Jaco Bakker, Johannes A. M. Langermans, “Ultrasonic Components of Vocalizations in Marmosets”, in Stefan M. Brudzynski, editor, Handbook of Ultrasonic Vocalization: A Window into the Emotional Brain (Handbook of Behavioral Neuroscience; 25), London, San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, →ISBN, part L (Ultrasonic Vocalization in Other Vertebrate Taxa), figure 49.1 caption, page 539, column 2:


thwack

en-verb

thwack (third-person singular simple present thwacks, present participle thwacking, simple past and past participle thwacked)

thwacks (present singular third-person)
thwacking (participle present)
thwacked (participle past)
thwacked (past)
thwack (infinitive)

The verb is probably:
* partly onomatopoeic, from the sound of something being beaten (compare whack); and
* partly derived from Late Middle English twakken, twake (“to hit (someone) with something; to pat; to stroke”), probably from Middle English thakken, thakke (“to dab; to pat; to stroke”) [and other forms] (whence thack (obsolete except Britain, dialectal)), from Old English þaccian (“to beat; to pat; to touch softly, stroke; to strike gently, clap, tap”), from Proto-West Germanic *þakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *þakwōną (“to pat; to tap; to touch”), from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to grasp with the hand; to touch”). Doublet of tangent.
The noun and interjection are derived from the verb.
Cognates
* Latin tangō (“touch”)
* Old Dutch þakolōn (“to stroke”)
* Old Norse þykkr (“a blow, thump, thwack”) (Icelandic þjaka, þjökka (“to beat, thump, thwack”); Norwegian tjåka (“to strike, beat”))

cog

And see, that urchin, ho-ieroe! / His truant legs they sink from under, / And to the quaking sheet below [i.e., ice on which he has been skating], / Down thwacks he, with a thud like thunder!

1831 February, “Delta” [pseudonym; David Macbeth Moir], “The Winter Wild”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXIX, number CLXXVII, part II, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, stanza VII, page 328:

(intransitive)
To fall down hard with a thump.


murmur

en-verb

murmur (third-person singular simple present murmurs, present participle murmuring, simple past and past participle murmured)

murmurs (present singular third-person)
murmuring (participle present)
murmured (participle past)
murmured (past)

From Middle English murmur, murmor, murmour, from Old French murmure (modern French murmure), from Latin murmur (“murmur, humming, muttering, roaring, growling, rushing etc.”).

der

The Iewes then murmured at him because he sayde: I am that breed which is come doune from heaven.

1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John vj:[41]:

And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord.

(intransitive, now rare) To grumble; to complain in a low, muttering voice, or express discontent at or against someone or something.


buzzing

en-noun

buzzing (countable and uncountable, plural buzzings)

I can hear buzzing coming from the television.

The sound produced by something that buzzes.


squeak

squeak (countable and uncountable, plural squeaks)

(countable) A short, high-pitched sound, as of two objects rubbing together, or the sounds made by mice and other small animals.


squeak

en-verb

squeak (third-person singular simple present squeaks, present participle squeaking, simple past and past participle squeaked)

squeaks (present singular third-person)
squeaking (participle present)
squeaked (participle past)
squeaked (past)

But I must warn you that chipboard floors are always likely to squeak. The material is still being used in new-builds, but developers now use adhesive to bed and joint it, rather than screws or nails. I suspect the adhesive will eventually embrittle and crack, resulting in the same squeaking problems as before.

2014 August 17, Jeff Howell, “Home improvements: Repairing and replacing floorboards [print version: Never buy anything from a salesman, 16 August 2014, p. P7]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Property):

(intransitive) To emit a short, high-pitched sound.

If he be obstinate, put a civil question to him upon the rack, and he squeaks, I warrant him.

1690, [John] Dryden, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: […], London: […] Jo. Hindmarsh, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

(intransitive, slang) To inform, to squeal.

(transitive) To speak or sound in a high-pitched manner.


blare

blare (third-person singular simple present blares, present participle blaring, simple past and past participle blared)

blares (present singular third-person)
blaring (participle present)
blared (participle past)
blared (past)

The verb is derived from Late Middle English blaren, bleren, bloren (“to bellow, cry, wail; of a goat: to bleat”), probably from Old English *blǣren, from Middle Dutch blaren, bleren (“to bawl, cry; to shout; to bleat”) (modern Dutch blèren), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to bleat, cry”) and ultimately imitative.
The noun is derived from the verb.
Cognates
Low German blaeren, blaren, blarren
Middle High German blêren, blerren (modern German plärren)

col

Cognates

In 2000, a robber held up a bank in San Diego, USA. It seems everyone held their noses rather than sticking their hands up because the man was so smelly! […] Police helicopters blared loudspeaker warnings about the smelly man.

2014, Nick Arnold, “Body Breakdowns and Recovery”, in Horrible Science: Body Owner’s Handbook, revised edition, London: Scholastic Children’s Books, →ISBN, page 159:

Often followed by out: of a device such as a loudspeaker or a radio: to produce (music, a sound, etc.) loudly and piercingly.

řvát

The trumpet blaring in my ears gave me a headache.

[O]n plains, and under City-walls, innumerable regimental bands blare-off into the Inane, without note from us.

1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Mankind”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book I (The Feast of Pikes), page 49:

Blazon your mottos of blessing and prayer! / Welcome her, welcome her, all that is ours! / Warble, O bugle, and trumpet, blare! / Flags, flutter out upon turrets and towers!

1863 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “A Welcome to Alexandra. March 7, 1863.”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], published 1864, →OCLC, page 164:

France, even after 30 years of extraordinary synth, electro and urban pop, is still beaten with a stick marked "Johnny Hallyday" by otherwise sensible journalists. Songs that have taken Europe by storm, from the gloriously bleak Belgian disco of Stromae's Alors on Danse to Sexion d'Assaut's soulful Desole blare from cars everywhere between Lisbon and Lublin but run aground as soon as they hit Dover.

2011 December 14, Andrew Khan, “Music Blog: How Isolationist is British Pop?”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2013-05-23:

To make a loud sound, especially like a trumpet.

тръбя

to make a loud sound, especially like a trumpet

And the kyne wente ſtraight waye vnto Beth Semes vpon one ſtreete, and wente on blearynge, and turned nether to the righte hande ner to the lefte.

1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, I. Kynges [1 Samuel] vj:[12], folio xxviij, recto, column 2:

The worthies alſo of Moab bleared and cried for very ſorow of their myndes: Wo is my hert for Moabs ſake.

1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Esay [Isaiah] xv:[4–5], folio vi, verso, column 2:

Behold, at eve, the herd returning home / From fruitful meads vvhere they have grazed their fill, / No longer in the ſtalls contain'd, they ruſh / VVith many a friſk abroad, and, blaring oft, / VVith one conſent all dance their dams around, […]

1791, Homer, “[The Odyssey.] Book X.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 236, lines 496–500:

(archaic except British, dialectal) To make a lengthy sound, as of a person crying or an animal bellowing or roaring.

karjua

to make a lengthy sound, as of a person crying or an animal bellowing or roaring


blare

en-noun

blare (countable and uncountable, plural blares)

col

Cognates

I can hardly hear you over the blare of the radio.

[T]heir host of eagles flew / Past the Pyrenean pines, / Follow'd up in valley and glen / With blare of bugle, clamour of men, / Roll of cannon and clash of arms, / And England pouring on her foes.

1852, Alfred Tennyson, “Stanza VI”, in Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 10:

They danced on silently, softly. Their feet played tricks to the beat of the tireless measure, that exquisitely asinine blare which is England's punishment for having lost America.

1922 October, Michael Arlen, “Book the Second: The Friends. Chapter II.”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, London, Glasgow: W[illiam] Collins Sons & Co., […], published August 1924, →OCLC, section 1, page 84:

The blare of the music and the restlessness of the chorus afflicted his nerves.

1924 May 24 – July 12, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Judson Finds an Old Friend”, in Bill the Conqueror: His Invasion of England in the Springtime, 10th edition, London: Methuen & Co. […], published 1931, →OCLC, page 242:

The screeching of brakes, the monotonous blare of motor horns, the clip-clip of shoes on slippery pavements, the rustling of wet mackintoshes were all part of the great metropolis.

1936, F[rederick] J[oseph] Thwaites, chapter XXII, in The Redemption, Sydney, N.S.W.: H. John Edwards Publishing, published 1940, →OCLC, page 214:

The herds [of bison], in their flight from the burning pastures had rushed over the bed of the watercourse—scaled the slopes of the banks. […] One cry alone more wild than their own savage blare pierced the reek through which the Brute Hurricane swept.

1861 September 28 – 1862 March 8, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XLVII, in A Strange Story. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co., […], published 1862, →OCLC, pages 369–370:

(obsolete except British, dialectal) A lengthy sound, as of a person crying or an animal bellowing or roaring.


fizz

en-verb

fizz (third-person singular simple present fizzes, present participle fizzing, simple past and past participle fizzed)

fizzes (present singular third-person)
fizzing (participle present)
fizzed (participle past)
fizzed (past)

onomatopoeic

Onomatopoeia

the fizzing fuse of a bomb

(intransitive) To make a rapid hissing or bubbling sound.


bow-wow

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-bow-wow.wav

Lord Pembroke said once to me at Wilton, with a happy pleasantry, and some truth, that “Dr. Johnson’s sayings would not appear so extraordinary were it not for his bow-wow way;” but I admit the truth of this only on some occasions.

1785, James Boswell, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, London: Charles Dilly, page 8:

1826, Walter Scott, Diary entry for 14 March, 1826, in The Complete Works of Sir Walter Scott; with a Biography, New York: Conner & Cooke, 1833, Volume 7, Chapter 68, p. 475,
Miss Austen […] had a talent for describing the involvements, and feelings, and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The Big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going; but the exquisite touch, which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting, from the truth of the description and the sentiment, is denied to me.

(dated, informal, of language) Grandiose.


snuffle

Probably from Low German and Dutch snuffelen (“to snuffle”), equivalent to snuff + -le.


dong

噹 /当

onomatopoeia for the ringing sound made by a bell with a low pitch


dong

en-verb

dong (third-person singular simple present dongs, present participle donging, simple past and past participle donged)

dongs (present singular third-person)
donging (participle present)
donged (participle past)
donged (past)

To make a low-pitched, metallic ringing sound.


bawl

bawl (third-person singular simple present bawls, present participle bawling, simple past and past participle bawled)

bawls (present singular third-person)
bawling (participle present)
bawled (participle past)
bawled (past)

From Middle English baulen, from Old Norse baula (“to bellow”) and/or Medieval Latin baulō (“to bark”), both from Proto-Germanic *bau- (“to roar”), conflated with Proto-Germanic *bellaną, *ballijaną, *buljaną (“to shout, low, roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to sound, roar”). Cognate with Faroese belja (“to low”), Icelandic baula (“to moo, low”), Swedish böla (“to bellow, low”). More at bell.

cog

children bawling

cattle bawling

Why did you bawl out just as I was aiming? Who can aim with a fellow bawling in his ear? I've lost the birds through it.

1859, George Meredith, chapter 5, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:

(intransitive) To wail; to give out a blaring cry.


bing

en-noun

bing (countable and uncountable, plural bings)

From Middle English bing, binge, benge (also as Middle English byngger, bengere (“grain bin, hopper”)), from Old Norse bingr (“heap of corn; bed; bolster”), cognate with Scots bing, Swedish binge (“heap”), Danish bing (“bin; box; compartment”).
Compare also Scottish Gaelic binnean meaning a small hill or slag heap.

der

(chiefly Scotland) A slag heap, i.e. a man-made mound or heap formed with the waste material (slag) as a by-product of coal mining or the shale oil industry


bing

Onomatopoeia, variously of a bouncing sound or a bell.

ping (alternative)
ding (alternative)
bong (alternative)

(onomatopoeia) The sound made by a bounce, or by striking a metallic surface

Toronto Star, "Ryanair looking at standing 'seats,' pay toilets", 2 July 2010, Jim Rankin
Bing! Ladies and gentlemen, in a few minutes the captain will turn off the fasten seatbelt sign, but for your own safety we recommend you stay seated and with your seatbelt securely fastened at all times.

(onomatopoeia) The high-pitched sound made by a bell being struck


bing

bings (plural)
ping (alternative)
ding (alternative)
bong (alternative)

The sound made by a bell, an onomatopœia.


bing

en-verb

bing (third-person singular simple present bings, present participle binging, simple past and past participle binged)

bings (present singular third-person)
binging (participle present)
binged (participle past)
binged (past)
ping (alternative)
ding (alternative)
bong (alternative)


squall

squall (third-person singular simple present squalls, present participle squalling, simple past and past participle squalled)

squalls (present singular third-person)
squalling (participle present)
squalled (participle past)
squalled (past)

From Middle English *squalen and squelen (“to cry, scream, squall”), from Old Norse skvala (“to cry out”), probably ultimately imitative with influence from squeal and bawl.
Cognate with Swedish skvala (“to gush, pour down”), Norwegian skval (“sudden rush of water”). The noun is probably from the verb.

onomatopoeic

imitative

cog

Squalling was the word for it, Pew's anger rose so high at these objections; till at last, his passion completely taking the upper hand, he struck at them right and left in his blindness, and his stick sounded heavily on more than one.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

Squalling like an infuriated cat, the shadow crashed down

The orchestra burst into a sudden loud squalling.

1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:

Some night-bird, belike, or a sea-gull squalling below the headland.

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 39:

she wrapped the squalling, wriggling baby tightly into the fine cotton sheet

1998, Anne McCafferey, Masterharper of Pern:


squall

→ Polish: szkwał

→ Russian: шквал (škval)

→ Ukrainian: шквал (škval)

onomatopoeic

imitative

Luckily she wasn’t there any more, no one was, when he returned from the Caribbean carnival damp-hatted and soaked through after being caught unprepared by a squall of hard, hot rain.

2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 5:

With reports of the Japanese forces bearing down on them confirmed, Rear Admiral Sprague orders his ships east, heading towards a series of rain squalls, hoping for concealment. This will hopefully delay the Japanese closing the range, and also draw them away from the much-more-vulnerable landing ships.

2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 10:57 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 2022-11-03:

(often nautical) A sudden storm, as found in a squall line.

(meteorology) A squall line, multicell line, or part of a squall line.

But the third Emir, now seeing himself all alone on the quarter-deck, seems to feel relieved from some curious restraint; for, tipping all sorts of knowing winks in all sorts of directions, and kicking off his shoes, he strikes into a sharp but noiseless squall of a hornpipe right over the Grand Turk’s head; and then, by a dexterous sleight, pitching his cap up into the mizentop for a shelf, he goes down rollicking so far at least as he remains visible from the deck, reversing all other processions, by bringing up the rear with music.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 34, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 163:

The media present rising prices as a passing squall for the middle class, brought on by Vlad ’n’ Liz and resulting in spiking mortgage rates and fewer trips to Waitrose. But beneath those headlines are millions of others for whom the problem isn’t rising prices, but falling incomes.

2023 August 17, Aditya Chakrabortty, “Can’t pay and they really do take it away: what happens when the bailiffs come knocking”, in The Guardian:


plump

From Middle English plumpen, akin to Middle Dutch plompen, Middle Low German plumpen, German plumpfen.

As she beheld her, poor Mrs. Mack's heart fluttered up to her mouth, and then dropped with a dreadful plump, into the pit of her stomach.

1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:


squawk

First attested in 1821. Unknown, but probably of imitative origin (compare dialectal Italian squacco (“small-crested heron”)).

American night heron
American night heron


holler

American variant of holla, hallo or hollo.

I heard a holler from over the fence.

If you need anything, just give me a holler.

(by extension, colloquial) Any communication to get somebody's attention.

gebrul

by extension, any communication to get somebody's attention


holler

en-verb

holler (third-person singular simple present hollers, present participle hollering, simple past and past participle hollered)

hollers (present singular third-person)
hollering (participle present)
hollered (participle past)
hollered (past)

You can holler at your computer as much as you want, but it won't help anything.


clump

From Middle English clompe, from Old English clymppe, a variant of clympre (“a lump or mass of metal”), from Proto-Germanic *klumpô (“mass, lump, clump; clasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *glembʰ- (“lump, clamp”).
Alternatively, possibly from Middle Dutch clompe or Middle Low German klumpe (compare German Klumpen). Doublet of klomp. Cognates include Danish klump (probably from Low German as well). Compare Norwegian Bokmål klump.

der

She [Miss Climpson] asks questions which a young man could not put without a blush. She is the angel that rushes in where fools get a clump on the head.

1927, Dorothy L. Sayers, Unnatural Death:

Thus, the myths of cinema and syndicated cartoon have served to unite the diverse races far more than the clump of the cricket-ball and the clipped rebukes and laudations of their masters.

1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 37:


jingle

/ˈd͡ʒɪŋɡ(ə)l/

The verb, which is older than the noun, is from Middle English gyngle. Onomatopoeic; compare jangle.

He heard the jingle of her keys in the door and turned off the screen.

The sound of metal or glass clattering against itself.

Her tambourine didn't come with any jingles attached.

(music) A small piece of metal attached to a musical instrument, such as a tambourine, so as to make a jangling sound when the instrument is played.

sonall

Give me a jingle when you find out something.


jingle

en-verb

jingle (third-person singular simple present jingles, present participle jingling, simple past and past participle jingled)

jingles (present singular third-person)
jingling (participle present)
jingled (participle past)
jingled (past)
gingle (alternative)

/ˈd͡ʒɪŋɡ(ə)l/

The beads jingled as she walked.

He heard then a warm heavy sigh, softer, as she turned over and the loose brass quoits of the bedstead jingled. Must get those settled really.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[IV]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 54:

(intransitive) To make a noise of metal or glass clattering against itself.

дрънча

She jingled the beads as she walked.

(transitive) To cause to make a noise of metal or glass clattering against itself.

klirre

to cause to make a noise of metal or glass clattering against itself


plop

en-noun

plop (countable and uncountable, plural plops)

Imitative of the sound, or perhaps a variant of plap.

onom

Imitative

He heard the plops of rain on the roof.

(countable) A sound or action like liquid hitting a hard surface, or an object falling into a body of water.


plop

en-verb

plop (third-person singular simple present plops, present participle plopping, simple past and past participle plopped)

plops (present singular third-person)
plopping (participle present)
plopped (participle past)
plopped (past)

onom

Imitative

Stooping, she picked up another pebble, sounded out the word again, and tossed it into the shallow water near the path, where it plopped into the water, sending out circles from where it fell.

2012, Augusta Trobaugh, Music From Beyond The Moon, page 43:

To make the sound of an object dropping into a body of liquid.


plop

Imitative

"[A]fter a bit the old ship went down all on a sudden with a lurch to starboard---plop. The suck in was something awful."

1900, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, page xiii. 110:

Indicating the sound of something plopping.


caterwaul

From Middle English caterwrawen, from cater (“cat”) + wrawen, wrawlen (“cry like a cat”), equivalent to cat + waul. Compare Low German katerwaulen (“to cry like a cat”) and Middle Dutch cater (“tomcat”) (Dutch kater).


harumph

Harumph! She is welcome to try, but I'm not going to bother helping.

"Harumph! Well, now, perhaps I spoke too soon, McManus."

1982, Patrick F. McManus, They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?:

An expression of disdain, disbelief, protest, refusal or dismissal.


harumph

harumphs (plural)
harrumph (alternative)

I didn't get a harumph out of that guy.

Give the governor a harumph.

An expression of disdain, disbelief, protest, or dismissal; a huff, grunt, or snort.


whoosh

onomatopoeic

imitative

The snow burst through the trees with no warning but a last-second whoosh of sound, a two-story wall of white and Chris Rudolph’s piercing cry: “Avalanche! Elyse!”

2012, John Branch, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in The New York Times:

A breathy sound like that of an object passing at high speed.


whoosh

en-verb

whoosh (third-person singular simple present whooshes, present participle whooshing, simple past and past participle whooshed)

whooshes (present singular third-person)
whooshing (participle present)
whooshed (participle past)
whooshed (past)
woosh (alternative)

onomatopoeic

imitative

(intransitive) To make a breathy sound like a whoosh.

Twitter whooshed your tweet away before I read all of it lmao.

2023 January 14, Trocheck Mate @RSolisByx, Twitter:


whoosh

imitative

went over their head
go over someone's head#English

(sarcastic) Indicating that somebody has missed the point (i.e. it went over their head).


bellow

From Middle English belwen, from Old English bylgian, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to sound, roar”), whence also belg (“leather bag”), bellan (“to roar”), blāwan (“to blow”). Cognate with German bellen (“to bark”), Russian бле́ять (bléjatʹ, “baa, bleat”).

There was a tap at a door, a bull's bellow from within, and I was face to face with the Professor.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

The deep roar of a large animal, or any similar loud noise.

мучене

the deep roar of a large animal, or any similar loud noise


splosh

en-noun

splosh (countable and uncountable, plural sploshes)

Onomatopoeic. Connected with splash and splish; compare also slosh.


scree

scree (countable and uncountable, plural screes)

Probably a back-formation of screes, from Old Norse skriða (“landslide, landslip”); compare skríða (“to glide”) (from Proto-Germanic *skrīþaną (“to crawl; to glide; to walk”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreyt-, *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”)). The word is cognate with Icelandic skriða (“avalanche; landslide, landslip; steep mountain- or hillside made up of gravel and loose rocks”).

cog

To the north the towering scree-strewn slopes of Saddleback begin to draw nearer as we start the abrupt descent towards Keswick.

1961 October, ""Voyageur"", “The Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway”, in Trains Illustrated, page 601:

Struggling down the slope,
There's not much hope.
I begin to try to ride the scree
But the rocks are tumbling all around me.

1973, Peter Gabriel with Genesis, Riding the Scree:

Sprawled prone among the rocks, the team waited for a reply to their request to fire. […] Occasional rounds zinged off the scree, each with a different pitch.

2003, Bing (Francis J.) West, chapter XXV, in The Pepperdogs: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 328:

(uncountable) Loose stony debris on a slope.


scree

I think both of our hearts must have gone into overdrive when we heard the metallic scree of a door being rolled open and the men's voices that accompanied it.

2008 September 3, Brad Fear, “The ‘Captives’ Entry”, in A Macabre Myth of a Moth-man, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 130:

For a few moments the only sound was the rasp of a file as Lee moved onto the last of Rowdy's hooves, the sound of John clipping, the scree of a hawk flying overhead and the occasional nicker from the horses already tied up.

2015, Carolyne Aarsen, chapter 7, in The Cowboy’s Homecoming, New York, N.Y.: Love Inspired Books, Harlequin, →ISBN, pages 113–114:

A harsh, high-pitched sound or cry (as of a hawk).


scree

en-verb

scree (third-person singular simple present screes, present participle screeing, simple past and past participle screed)

screes (present singular third-person)
screeing (participle present)
screed (participle past)
screed (past)

They smelled the land before they saw it. A rich, dark odor of sweet earth, coming at them through a misty rain. Then seabirds appeared, crying and screeing.

2003, Pete Hamill, chapter 38, in Forever: A Novel, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, →ISBN:

She didn't want to scream to alert Malicia or a guard. What could she do to get the boy's attention? Suddenly, the memory of the mountaintop came to her. The hawk. She screed like a hawk. The boy stopped and searched the sky, […]

2009, Linda Ross Meyer, The First Quest of Match, the Whining Dragon, [s.l.]: Linda Ross Meyer, →ISBN, page 62:

To make a high-pitched cry like that of a hawk.


scree

A contract of lease was entered into between the pursuer, who is the proprietor of the estate of Bargaddie, on the one part, and William M'Creath and others, carrying on business under the firm of the Bargaddie Coal Company, on the other part, […] and the lessees becoming bound to pay to the pursuer the sum of £500 sterling of fixed yearly rent, or, in his option, a lordship of 5½d. per cart of the gross output of coals, such cart weighing 13 cwt., and the coals being riddled through a riddle or scree of the customary size.

1859 March 15, John Lorimer, William E[llis] Gloag, James Paterson, “The Bargaddie of Bartonshill Coal Company (Robert Paterson, J. B. Neilson, &c.), Appellants, v. Robert Wark, Respondent”, in Geo[rge] Dingwall Fordyce, editor, The Scottish Jurist: Being Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Courts of Scotland, and in the House of Lords on Appeal from Scotland, volume XXXI, Edinburgh: Thomas Constable and Co. and all booksellers, →OCLC, page 324, column 1:


sss

"Sss," said the snake.

2017, Brian Fox, The Hollow Rasping of an American Nightmare, page 420:

(onomatopoeia) The hiss of a snake or other reptile.


ploop

Imitative; compare the more common plop.

onom

Imitative

The pebbles went ploop and sunk to the bottom of the pond.

(onomatopoeia) The sound of a small object falling into liquid.


ploop

Imitative

I heard a ploop, but I couldn't tell where it came from.


screech

en-noun

screech (countable and uncountable, plural screeches)

1602; altered with expressive vowel lengthening from earlier skrech (1577), variant of obsolete scritch, from Middle English skriken, shrichen, schrichen (1250), from Old English (attested as scriccettan) and Old Norse skríkja, both from Proto-Germanic *skrīkijaną (compare Icelandic skríkja, Old Saxon scricōn, Danish skrige, Swedish skrika), derivative of *skrīhaną (compare Middle Dutch schriën, German schreien, Low German dial. schrien, schriegen), ultimately of imitative origin.

onomatopoeic

imitative

(countable) A harsh, shrill cry, as of one in acute pain or in fright; a shriek; a scream.


rustle

From Middle English rustelen, russelen, of uncertain origin, but probably from Old English hrūxlian, hristlan, hrystlan, hristlian (“to make a noise”). Compare also Scots reesle (“to crackle; rattle; rustle”), West Frisian risselje, Dutch ritselen (“to rustle”), Afrikaans ritsel (“to rustle”), German rascheln (“to rustle”).

cog

He heard the silken rustle of a dressing-gown being drawn on.

1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus:

A soft crackling sound similar to the movement of dry leaves.


rustle

en-verb

rustle (third-person singular simple present rustles, present participle rustling, simple past and past participle rustled)

rustles (present singular third-person)
rustling (participle present)
rustled (participle past)
rustled (past)

The next day at three o'clock we were again at the door, and the footmen as before; we heard the silk dress rustle, and the lady came down the steps and in an imperious voice, she said, "York, you must put those horses' heads higher, they are not fit to be seen."

[1877], Anna Sewell, “Earlshall”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 104:

(ergative) To move (something) with a soft crackling sound.

шумоля

to move (something) with a soft crackling sound

When at last the lumber was piled again in its rightful place, and the boxes of food had been returned to the shelter from which they had been stolen, the two friends rustled a meal, and then set off on horseback […]

1921, William M. McCoy, The Valley of the Sun, page 48:

(transitive) To make or obtain in a lively, energetic way.


pitter-patter

pitter-patter (third-person singular simple present pitter-patters, present participle pitter-pattering, simple past and past participle pitter-pattered)

pitter-patters (present singular third-person)
pitter-pattering (participle present)
pitter-pattered (participle past)
pitter-pattered (past)

The rain was coming down heavier now, the drops pitter-pattering on the roof of the truck.

1996, Stephen Leather, The Double Tap, BCA, page 97:


plonk

The sound made by something solid landing.


thump

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-thump.wav

onomatopoeic

imitative

... and so the universal thump is passed round, and all hands should rub each other’s shoulder-blades, and be content.

1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 1:

The watchman gave so very great a thump at my door last night, that I awakened at the knock.

1710 January 4 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele et al.], “Saturday, December 24, 1709”, in The Tatler, number 111; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume II, London: I. Walker and Co.; […], 1822, →OCLC:

An interesting feature of the church is the invisible clock, which you can hear thumping away as you enter. Constructed in 1525, it is one of the oldest timepieces in England. It chimes the hours and the quarters, and every three hours it plays a hymn. But it has no faces.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 163:


thump

en-verb

thump (third-person singular simple present thumps, present participle thumping, simple past and past participle thumped)

thumps (present singular third-person)
thumping (participle present)
thumped (participle past)
thumped (past)

onomatopoeic

imitative

The cat thumped its tail in irritation.

(transitive) To cause to make a thumping sound.

Dance music thumped from the nightclub entrance.

Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:

(intransitive) To throb with a muffled rhythmic sound.


moan

en-verb

moan (third-person singular simple present moans, present participle moaning, simple past and past participle moaned)

moans (present singular third-person)
moaning (participle present)
moaned (participle past)
moaned (past)
moan (infinitive)

From Middle English mone, mane, mān, (also as mene), from Old English *mān, *mǣn (“complaint; lamentation”), from Proto-West Germanic *mainu, from Proto-Germanic *mainō (“opinion; mind”).
Cognate with Old Frisian mēne (“opinion”), Old High German meina (“opinion”). Old English *mān, *mǣn is inferred from Old English mǣnan (“to complain over; grieve; mourn”). More at mean.

cog

(intransitive, colloquial) To complain; to grumble.


jangle

en-verb

jangle (third-person singular simple present jangles, present participle jangling, simple past and past participle jangled)

jangles (present singular third-person)
jangling (participle present)
jangled (participle past)
jangled (past)

From Middle English janglen (“to talk excessively, chatter; to talk idly, gossip; to nag; to complain, grumble; to argue, debate; to discuss, talk; to talk indistinctly, jabber; to make a noise or outcry; of a bird: to chatter, twitter”) [and other forms], from Old French jangler (“to chatter, gossip; to argue noisily; to bawl”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Old Dutch *jangelon (“to jeer”) (compare Middle Dutch jangelen (“to murmur, grumble, buzz, mutter, drone, simmer”), modern Dutch jengelen (“to whine, persistently nag, whimper”), though the Oxford English Dictionary finds this improbable) and ultimately imitative.

nb...

changel, changelen, gangelen, ganglen, ganglien, iangel, iangell, iangil, iangill, iangille, iangylle, jangelen, jangillen, jangli, jengelen, yangle

onomatopoeic

imitative

/ˈd͡ʒæŋɡ(ə)l/

Now ſee what noble and moſt ſoueraigne reaſon / Like ſweet bells iangled, out of time, and harſh, /That vnmatcht forme, and ſtature of blowne youth / Blaſted with extacie, […]

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

To cause (something) to make a rattling metallic sound.

kalistaa

to cause (something) to make a rattling metallic sound

A ſincere Heart that would ſerve God with his beſt, findeth more in a duty, than he could expect: and by Praying gets more of the fervency and Ardours of praying, as a Bell may be long a raiſing, but when it is up it jangleth not as it did at firſt.

a. 1678, Tho[mas] Manton, “[The Transfiguration of Christ.] Sermon II.”, in Christs Temptation and Transfiguration, Practically Explained and Improved in Several Sermons, London: [s.n.], published 1685, →OCLC, pages 43–44:

There is hardly a week without some saint in it who has to be commemorated, and often there are two in the same week, and sometimes three. I know when we have reached another saint, for then the church bells of the nearest village begin to jangle, and go on doing it every two hours.

1920, [Elizabeth von Arnim], In the Mountains, Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, page 43:

(intransitive)
To make a rattling metallic sound.


jangle

en-noun

jangle (countable and uncountable, plural jangles)

Bob Dylan
Mr. Tambourine Man
R.E.M.
The Beatles

From Middle English jangle (“gossip, idle talk; a dispute”), from Anglo-Norman jangle and Old French jangle (“gossip, idle talk; a dispute”), from Old French jangler (“to chatter, gossip; to argue noisily; to bawl”): see further at etymology 1. Later uses are derived directly from the verb.
Sense 3 (“sound typified by undistorted, treble-heavy electric guitars”) is said to derive from a line in the song Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan (born 1941): “Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me / In the jingle jangle morning, I’ll come following you.”

der

/ˈd͡ʒæŋɡ(ə)l/

E'en as she spake they heard the musical jangle of sleigh-bells, / First far off, with a dreamy sound and faint in the distance, […]

1873 August, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[I. Tales of a Wayside Inn.] The Theologian’s Tale. Elizabeth.”, in Aftermath, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, stanza II, page 45:

Jessamy tugged the scrolled iron bellpull which hung down on one side of the gate. Somewhere behind, she could hear an answering jangle.

1967, Barbara Sleigh, “The Holiday Aunt”, in Jessamy, 1st US edition, Indianapolis, Ind., Kansas City, Mo.: Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 8:

дрънчене

rattling metallic sound — see also clang

(figuratively)
The sound of people talking noisily.

If you like ‘jangle guitar’—where the guitar parts are chordal, arpeggiated and rhythmic—listen to players like Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, Peter Buck with R.E.M. (Life’s Rich Pageant) or Johnny Marr with The Smiths (The Queen Is Dead).

2008, Rikky Rooksby, Play Great Guitar: Brilliant Ideas for Getting More out of Your Six-string, Oxford, Oxfordshire: The Infinite Ideas Company, →ISBN, page 228:

(music, attributively) A sound typified by undistorted, treble-heavy electric guitars, played in a droning chordal style, characteristic of 1960s folk rock and 1980s indie rock music.


mooing

Her piteous mooings caught the ear of a hungry old he-bear which was hunting in the woods near by.

1920, Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts, Hoof and claw:

The action of the verb moo; a mooing sound.


ripple

A sound similar to that of undulating water.

ромон

(electronics) A small oscillation of an otherwise steady signal.


ripple

en-verb

ripple (third-person singular simple present ripples, present participle rippling, simple past and past participle rippled)

ripples (present singular third-person)
rippling (participle present)
rippled (participle past)
rippled (past)

(intransitive) To make a sound as of water running gently over a rough bottom, or the breaking of ripples on the shore.

ромоля

to make a sound as water running across shallows


trump

Shortening of Jew's-trump, which may be from French jeu-trump, jeu tromp, jeu trompe (a trump, or toy, to play with).

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-trump.wav


ding

The high-pitched resonant sound of a bell.


ding

ding (third-person singular simple present dings, present participle dinging, simple past and past participle dinged)

dings (present singular third-person)
dinging (participle present)
dinged (participle past)
dinged (past)

The fretful tinkling of the convent bell evermore dinging among the mountain echoes.

1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC:

These were succeeded by anchor and chain-cable forges, where sledgehammers were dinging upon iron all day long.

1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

(intransitive) To make a high-pitched resonant sound like a bell.

(intransitive, colloquial, roleplaying games, especially video games) To level up.


ding

(Hong Kong) An indigenous inhabitant of the New Territories entitled to the building a village house under the Small House Policy.


clink

clink (third-person singular simple present clinks, present participle clinking, simple past and past participle clinked)

clinks (present singular third-person)
clinking (participle present)
clinked (participle past)
clinked (past)

From Middle English clinken, from Old English *clincan (compare clynnan, clynian (“to sound; resound”)), from Proto-Germanic *klinganą (“to sound”). Cognates include Middle Dutch klinken and German klingen. Related to cling (sound) and clang. May be further related to call.
Perhaps of onomatopoeic origin, as metal against metal.

The hammers clinked on the stone all night.

The broken sheds look'd sad and strange, / Unlifted was the clinking latch, / Weeded and worn the ancient thatch / upon the lonely moated grange.

1830 June, Alfred Tennyson, “Mariana”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, stanza I, page 10:

On the other side: the rich, beautiful tapestry of WASP culture that constituted Levis's life—friends playing horseshoes at backyard cocktail parties, where girls swanned in chaise longues, clinking their gin and tonics.

2022, Ling Ma, “G”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:

(ambitransitive) To make a clinking sound; to make a sound of metal on metal or glass on glass; to strike materials such as metal or glass against one another.


rumble

rumble (third-person singular simple present rumbles, present participle rumbling, simple past and past participle rumbled)

rumbles (present singular third-person)
rumbling (participle present)
rumbled (participle past)
rumbled (past)
rummle (alternative)
rommle (alternative)

From Middle English rumblen, romblen, rummelyn, frequentative form of romen (“to roar”), equivalent to rome + -le. Cognate with Dutch rommelen (“to rumble”), Low German rummeln (“to rumble”), German rumpeln (“to be noisy”), Danish rumle (“to rumble”), all of imitative origin.

The trembling streams which wont in channels clear
To rumble gently down with murmur soft,[…]

c. 1580, Edmund Spenser, “The Tears of the Muses”, in Complaints, published 1591:

(obsolete, intransitive) To murmur; to ripple.


yowl

From Middle English youlen, goulen, from Old Norse gaula (“to low, bellow, howl, scream”), related to Icelandic gaula (“to yell, howl, roar”), Faroese geyla (“to bawl, squall, shout, yell, bellow”), Norwegian gaule (“to roar, howl, whine, weep noisily”), dialectal Swedish gjöla, Scots gowl (“to howl, yell, roar”), Shetlandic Scots gjol. Initial y- possibly influenced by Middle English yollen, yellen (“to yell”).

cog

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


thud

en-verb

thud (third-person singular simple present thuds, present participle thudding, simple past and past participle thudded)

thuds (present singular third-person)
thudding (participle present)
thudded (participle past)
thudded (past)

From Middle English thudden (“to strike with a weapon”), from Old English þyddan (“to strike, press, thrust”), from Proto-Germanic *þuddijaną, *þiudijaną (“to strike, thrust”), from Proto-Germanic *þūhaną, *þeuhaną (“to press”), from Proto-Indo-European *tūk- (“to beat”). Cognate with Old English þoddettan (“to strike, push, batter”), Old English þȳdan (“to strike, stab, thrust, press”), Old English þēowan (“to press”), Albanian thundër (“a hoof, talon, a shaft", figuratively, "oppression, torment”).

cog

At the same instant two arrows thudded into the carcass of the deer over which he knelt, passing but a few inches from his head.

1849, George Frederick Ruxton, Life in the Far West (non-fiction), New York: Harper & Brothers, page 183:

[…] while the tears streamed from his eyes, and his tail waved and thudded in perfect time on the sanded floor. But for the said thudding of the tail, I would have stopped, fancying the poor animal's nerves had been set on edge.

1874, Mrs George Cupples, “Mrs Glen and the Aberfoyle Orphanage”, in The Poetical Remains of William Glen, Edinburgh: William Paterson, page 47:

(intransitive) To make the sound of a dull impact.


atishoo

Both onomatopoeic and a pronunciation spelling of a tissue.

[A]nd the next instant the most peculiar sounds came forth from the statue of Biggoon. "Ah-tishoo!" said the spirit voice, "Oh! Oh! ah-tish-oo!"

1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 24, column 1:


snarfle

en-verb

snarfle (third-person singular simple present snarfles, present participle snarfling, simple past and past participle snarfled)

snarfles (present singular third-person)
snarfling (participle present)
snarfled (participle past)
snarfled (past)

From snarf + -le (frequentative suffix). First attested in 1985.

Wiggy, my Staffordshire terrier, loved to snarfle and root around on that hillside, and she always brought in the wonderful perfume, like a cloud of scent . . .

2004 Brigit Legere Binns - The Low-carb Gourmet: Recipes for the New Lifestyle - Page 4

. . . while we snarfle down popcorn at the Cineplex.

2007 Alan Farrell - High Cheekbones, Pouty Lips, Tight Jeans Page 246


ringing

en-noun

ringing (countable and uncountable, plural ringings)


ringing

en-adj

ringing (comparative more ringing, superlative most ringing)

more ringing (comparative)
most ringing (superlative)

They declare ringing confirmation for their theories even in the face of feeble data.

1999 March 20, Natalie Angiers, The Guardian:


clatter

en-verb

clatter (third-person singular simple present clatters, present participle clattering, simple past and past participle clattered)

clatters (present singular third-person)
clattering (participle present)
clattered (participle past)
clattered (past)

From Middle English clatren (“to make a rattling sound”), from Old English *clatrian (attested as the Late Old English gerund clatrung), of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Dutch klateren, kletteren.
The noun, derived from the verb, is first attested in the 14ᵗʰ century.

inh

When all the bees are gone to settle, / You clatter still your brazen kettle.

1728, Jonathan Swift, “A Dialogue between Mad Mullinix and Timothy”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 403:

When he came to Nottingham, he entered that part of the market where butchers stood, and took up his inn in the best place he could find. Next, he opened his stall and spread his meat upon the bench, then, taking his cleaver and steel and clattering them together, he trolled aloud in merry tones: […]

1883, Howard Pyle, “Robin Hood Turns Butcher”, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC, part second, page 49:

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard, / And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred; […]

1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 1, stanza III, page 46:

[Hoop-and-stick] was not a little gentleman's game but was played by boys in heavy boots making a terrific noise as they clattered along on the pavements at quite a speed.

1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 127:

(intransitive) To make a rattling sound.


clatter

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:

There was something distinctly low-key, even wilfully alienating about the band’s performance. A scattering of OK Computer tracks were interspersed with more abstract latterday material – the clatter of 15 Step and Myxamatosis.

2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian:

... disintegrated Incredibly , pitched your clattering pieces to the bottom stair Of intellect , insisting that you start Again . Or proud - flesh , clotted mental pores , might claim Authentic miracle only to decry it . Campanulas .

1978, William Cookson, Agenda, volume 16, number 1 - v. 18, Poets and Painters Press, →OCLC, page 7:

A rattling noise; a repetition of abrupt, sharp sounds.

Clatter, or, as it is sometimes called, Clitter, is the name given to the confused masses of granite rocks that are so frequently seen covering large areas of ground on the hill sides of the moor, or clustering around the bases of many of the tors.

1887, William Crossing, The Ancient Crosses of Dartmoor, Exeter: James G Commin, page 45:


gargle

en-noun

gargle (countable and uncountable, plural gargles)

From French gargouiller (“to gargle”), from Old French gargouille, gargole (“gutter, throat”). Compare gargoyle and Spanish garganta. Eclipsed non-native Middle English gargargisen (“to gargle”) from Latin, and displaced native Old English swillan (“to gargle”) (> English swill)..

ncog

goggle (non-rhotic, father-bother merger)

(countable) The sound or act of gargling.


tuwhit tuwhoo

tuwhit tuwhoos (plural)
tu-whit tu-whoo (alternative)

Thy tuwhits are lull'd I wot, / Thy tuwhoos of yesternight,[…]

[1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Second Song. To the Same [the Owl].”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza 1, page 21:


shuffling

en-adj

shuffling (comparative more shuffling, superlative most shuffling)

more shuffling (comparative)
most shuffling (superlative)

This world I do renounce, and in your sights / Shake patiently my great affliction off.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:


choo

We could hear the choo choo choo

(onomatopoeia) The sound of a locomotive whistle


choo-choo

choo-choos (plural)
choochoo (alternative)
choo choo (alternative)

/ˈtʃuːˌtʃuː/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-choo-choo.wav

onom

Imitative

The sound made by a steam locomotive or ship.


clomp

Probably onomatopoeic or a variant of clump (“walk heavily and clumsily”), itself also onomatopoeic or perhaps from the notion of walking in clumps, from Dutch klomp (“clump, mass, wooden shoe”), from Old Dutch *klumpo, from Proto-Germanic *klumpô (“clump, lump, mass; clasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *glembʰ- (“clamp, mass”).

der

There was just a pause in the clomps, then Bill's boots went on toward the house.

1990, Laura C[aroline] Stevenson, chapter 11, in Happily after All, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 132:

"Hello?" he called toward the closed door. "Anybody here?" Somebody must have heard him, because he heard something move on the opposite side of the door. First a distant sound like animals grunting, then a clomp, clomp, clomp like boots approaching.

2010, Mark Peter Hughes, “Savages and Kings”, in A Crack in the Sky, Delacorte Press, →ISBN, page 226:

Amidst the clomps of oncoming horses, he could now hear men's low, conferring voices.

2012 January, Frank Leslie, chapter 6, in The Last Ride of Jed Strange, Signet, New American Library, →ISBN:

The sound of feet hitting the ground loudly.


clomp

en-verb

clomp (third-person singular simple present clomps, present participle clomping, simple past and past participle clomped)

clomps (present singular third-person)
clomping (participle present)
clomped (participle past)
clomped (past)
klomp (alternative)

[…] so having smoothed my hair as well as I could, and repeatedly twitched my obdurate collar, I proceeded to clomp down the two flights of stairs, philosophizing as I went; […]

1847, Acton Bell (pseudonym; Anne Brontë), Agnes Grey: A Novel, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, publisher, 72, Mortimer St., Cavendish Sq., →OCLC:

The next day I couldn't use my black pair to school and in order not to spoil my white pair I used my bakias or wooden clogs instead. As I clomped into the classroom, for I was late that morning, my school teacher—a German nun—looked up and I saw her face wrinkle with displeasure, […]

1974, Liesel Commans Quirino, Why the Great Balls of Fire if I am Going to Go Pffttt Anyway?: 1931 to 1971, [s.l.]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 43:

Ambrose laughed as he lurched backwards and then clomped with his gold-tipped walking stick to the bed.

2000, Robin Maxwell, chapter 14, in The Queen's Bastard: A Novel, Scribner Paperback Fiction, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 100:

My exasperation turned to horror with the realisation that a cat cast in plaster would sink which sent me scrambling for the scoop net. Adding insult to injury, the bystanders cheered his [the cat's] undignified retrieval. With a mortified hiss and yowl he clomped with bedraggled hauteur below decks.

2003, June Kant, “Castaway”, in Jan Fook, Susan Hawthorne, Renate Klein, editors, Cat Tales: The Meaning of Cats in Women's Lives, North Melbourne, Vic.: Spinifex Press, →ISBN, page 17:

[W]e clomped up the steep rear concrete steps to the main (study hall) level and entered the hallway, where we then quite innocently clomped with our well-worn brogues into the study hall, where we sat to await the appearance of Witch Robinson.

2005, Alton L. Provost, Reflections in an Orphan's Eye: A Decade at Oxford 1947–1957, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 278:

Then she'd be startled when a peasant clomped with heavy shoes into this world of seductive images, his pipe clamped between his teeth, his eyes bovine and sleepy, to ask for a few stamps, and reflexively she'd find something to dress him down for.

2008, Stefan Zweig, translated by Joel Rotenberg, The Post-Office Girl, New York, N.Y.: New York Review Books, →ISBN:

I shoved the door closed and took off running for the steps. The clogs were too big and not the best shoes for sprinting. My feet clomped along the broken sidewalk.

2011, Lisa Hughey, chapter 6, in Blowback: A Romantic Thriller (A Black Cipher Files Thriller; 2), [s.l.]: [CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform], →ISBN:

But now that we were running so late, I didn't have time to fuss with them. I jammed my feet back into my plain brown clogs and clomped back downstairs […]

2015 February, Coco Simon, “Cupcake Panda-monium”, in Alexis's Cupcake Cupid, Simon Spotlight, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, →ISBN, page 126:

(intransitive) To walk heavily or clumsily, as with clogs.

When Sarah pointed at the door, Thea took a few steps toward it, clomping her feet with each stride.

2010, Amanda Cabot, Scattered Petals: A Novel (Texas Dreams; book 2), Grand Rapids, Mich.: Revell, →ISBN, page 47:

Kurt Fuehlen's brother, Helmut, waited at the basement doorway behind the cathedral, stomping his feet and clomping his mittened hands against his beefy arms.

2012, William J. O'Malley, The Place Called Skull, Indianapolis, In.: Dog Ear Publishing, →ISBN, page 7:

(transitive) To make some object hit something, thereby producing a clomping sound.


clunk

A dull, metallic sound, especially one made by two bodies coming into contact.

(dated) The sound of liquid coming out of a bottle, etc.; a glucking sound.


clunk

clunk (third-person singular simple present clunks, present participle clunking, simple past and past participle clunked)

clunks (present singular third-person)
clunking (participle present)
clunked (participle past)
clunked (past)

Her old bicycle was clunking along the road.


clip-clop

clip-clops (plural)
clip clop (alternative)

Onomatopoeia for two footsteps in succession.

onomatopoeic

Onomatopoeia

Meronyms: clop, cloop

The wagon creaked, swayed, moved on to strange accompaniment— clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop. The horses were trotting on hard road.

1984, Anthony C. Yu, tr. 吴承恩, 西游记 (Wu Cheng'en, Journey to the West) http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0226971538&id=1q2jr5jttaUC&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=%22clip-clops%22&sig=AK8LZaIEHgK0n1Bxa7jLM3YK_Xo
With loud clip-clops, several middle-aged women ran out from within to stare at the T’ang monk, grinning stupidly all the time.

Suddenly I heard the familiar “clip-clop, clip-clop” of shower shoes coming up the path behind me—and a rapid pace it was.

2001, Dave Zorn, Dinky Dau: Love, War, and the Corps:

2003, Ann Redisch Stampler, Something for Nothing http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0618159827&id=F6U_tU8-FFkC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=clip-clop&sig=bhYqdn7LQFMg6a0BuBGFIgpnP2E
All night long, Dog heard the clip-clop of horses hauling the wagons to market.

(onomatopoeia) The sound of steps on hard ground, especially of a horse's hooves.


clip-clop

en-verb

clip-clop (third-person singular simple present clip-clops, present participle clip-clopping, simple past and past participle clip-clopped)

clip-clops (present singular third-person)
clip-clopping (participle present)
clip-clopped (participle past)
clip-clopped (past)
clip clop (alternative)

onomatopoeic

Onomatopoeia

At the some moment, a horse clip-clops past, hauling a wagon.

1999, Mary Downing Hahn, Anna All Year Round:

2002, D J Vallone, For the Love of Freedom http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0595226183&id=xKV1VCsAwZIC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=%22clip-clops%22&sig=-LkO8mWX7qKZGvv2vcIXOHpIqYM
One of several pairs of mounted police in flak jackets clip-clops past, patrolling the perimeter.

There was a single arrivals platform, nearest to King's Cross. The large arch beneath the clock gave access to Hansom carriages clip-clopping up the cobbled ramp from the main gate in Euston Road, directly onto the platform, to meet well-to-do passengers.

2023 August 23, Nigel Harris, “Comment: End damaging drift at Euston”, in RAIL, number 990, page 3:


sniffle

From sniff + -le (frequentative suffix). Compare snivel.

I sometimes have a sniffle during allergy season.

The act, or the sound of sniffling; the condition of having a runny or wet nose, as from a cold or allergies.


patter

1610s, pat + -er (“frequentative (indicating repeated action)”), of (onomatopoeia) origin.

suffix

I could hear the patter of mice running about in the dark.

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:

A soft repeated sound, as of rain falling, or feet walking on a hard surface.


patter

en-verb

patter (third-person singular simple present patters, present participle pattering, simple past and past participle pattered)

patters (present singular third-person)
pattering (participle present)
pattered (participle past)
pattered (past)

The bullets pattered into the log-cabin walls.

The stealing shower […] 'Tis scarce to patter heard.

a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:

To make irregularly repeated sounds of low-to-moderate magnitude and lower-than-average pitch.


patter

en-noun

patter (countable and uncountable, plural patters)

Noun is from Middle English pater, verb is from Middle English pateren.
Noun attested 1758, originally referring to the cant of thieves and beggers.

This particularly rapid, unintelligible patter isn't generally heard, and if it is it doesn't matter.

1887, Gilbert and Sullivan (lyrics and music), “My Eyes Are Fully Open”, in Ruddigore:

Dad, I want to be a jock. All a jock needs is some hep patter and a real gone image. Now, they just don't teach that jazz in college.

1975, Garry Marshall et al., “Richie's Flip Side”, in Happy Days, season 2, episode 21, spoken by Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard):

“Did you say the bodies are getting mixed together with the toxic waste?” [sigh] “Now I got to look at the brochure. Yeah, that's what it says.” “By the way, you're really gonna have to work on your patter a little bit.”

2010 April 7, Kevin Shinick, “Blob Gets Job” (16:32 from the start), in Ugly Americans, season 1, episode 4, spoken by Mark Lilly (Matt Oberg):

As a young man he [Beppe Grillo] performed with a guitar in local bars, but fans preferred his pre-show patter, and he evolved into a successful stand-up comedian.

2017, Jamie Bartlett, chapter 5, in Radicals, William Heinemann, →ISBN:

Glib and rapid speech, such as from an auctioneer or a sports commentator.


patter

(intransitive, obsolete) To repeat the Lord's Prayer.


scrunch

en-verb

scrunch (third-person singular simple present scrunches, present participle scrunching, simple past and past participle scrunched)

scrunches (present singular third-person)
scrunching (participle present)
scrunched (participle past)
scrunched (past)

Attested since about 1800. Probably an intensive form of crunch; ultimately derived from the onomatopoeia of a crumpling sound; or perhaps a blend of squeeze + crunch.

He scrunched the paper into a ball and threw it at the whistling girl.

[…] and the scrunching of ashes under our feet I have often observed to be disagreeable to many.

1793–1799, Robert Townson, Tracts and Observations in Natural History and Physiology, page 154:

Then I put them under my heel, and scrunched them up, every one.

1800, Walter Besant, James Rice, With Harp and Crown, page 828:

(transitive) To crumple and squeeze to make more compact.

He scrunched his face at his wife's request.

(with object "one's face") To contract the muscles of one's face so as to draw their facial features together, out of pain, discomfort, uncertainty, etc.


plink

plink (third-person singular simple present plinks, present participle plinking, simple past and past participle plinked)

plinks (present singular third-person)
plinking (participle present)
plinked (participle past)
plinked (past)


swash

en-noun

swash (countable and uncountable, plural swashes)

Scandinavian. Compare Swedish dialect svasska, Norwegian svakka, English dialect swack (“a blow”).

As a first warning the boiling liquid lifts the cover and washes over it with a noisy swash and clatter.

1906, Good Housekeeping - Volume 42, page 352:

The sound of the furious "swash, swash,” as it struck, carried even to the depths of the holds where the engines churned madly to keep the prow in the teeth of the waves.

1943, Ella M. Noller, Rendezvous With Victory, page 44:

I'd wish with a swish, or I'd wash with a swash - and I'd dash (but not clash) with a dish ( but never squish your good things )

1979, Sun & Moon - Issues 6-11, page 22:

I listen to the soothing swash, swash of the waves and feel renewed strength in mind

2013, Bonnie Garmon, Jim Garmon, Indian River Country : Volume 1 1880-1889:

Dip in and out quickly and with a swash three or four times. This serves to wash off the dust that has settled while the fruit is on the trays.

1895, California. Legislature, Journals of the Legislature of the State of California, page 271:

Then he cut down a long forked stick, the anti-ophidian of the poor, and probing with the stick in one hand, began to clean the yuca grove with the machete in the other, displaying the lazy elegance of an athlete – swash, swash, swash – free and easy but looking carefully at each detail.

2005, Jimmy Weiskopf, Yajé: The New Purgatory : Encounters with Ayahuasca, page 91:

It had all been like a swash of pink cool-aid punch in her surprised face,some brigand of flailing emotions, in her golden pocket-book, where they could hear a fading swami-echo speaking out for animal rights, and damned yogic impulse.

She does not know whose hands are whose, but feels the swash and jangle of a tickle shoot up her neck.

2021, Felicia Kate Solomon, Lucia’s Poltergeist:


swash

en-verb

swash (third-person singular simple present swashes, present participle swashing, simple past and past participle swashed)

swashes (present singular third-person)
swashing (participle present)
swashed (participle past)
swashed (past)

The parts are swashed in the solution until they are clean and are then rinsed in cold running water.

1917, The Automobile - Volume 37, page 233:

I followed one set to the laundrey, where for two hours the samples were swashed and soaked, and swashed again, with strong laundry soap.

1920, Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine - Volume 99:

His gray and black hair on his head swashed in the dirty water around what used to be his face.

2008, Francisco Chicado, Mandible Museum, page 76:

First, they should be taken into the mouth, swashed and swirled around in the mouth so as to mix them with your saliva in which the saliva enzymes break down the juice for a much easier consumption.

2012, Sir Leonard, My Dual Fresh Juice and Miracle Weight Losing Plans:

He swashed the dipper around the bucket, keeping his eyes down—and took a slow step sidewise until he cleared the well box and stood behind it.

His throat worked as he poured the drink down his throat, then he took another mouthful and swashed it around before spitting it out.

(ambitransitive) To swirl through liquid; to swish.


cackle

cackle (third-person singular simple present cackles, present participle cackling, simple past and past participle cackled)

cackles (present singular third-person)
cackling (participle present)
cackled (participle past)
cackled (past)

From Middle English caclen, cakelen, perhaps from Old English *caclian, *cacolian, from Proto-West Germanic *kakulōn, *kakilōn (“to cackle, gaggle, yelp, snarl”), perhaps of imitative origin.
Compare Dutch kakelen (“to cackle”), German Low German kakeln (“to cackle”), German kakeln (“to blather”), Danish kagle (“to cackle”), Swedish kackla (“to cackle”). Compare also Old English cahhetan, ċeahhettan (“to laugh loudly; cackle”), German gackern (“to cackle”).

onomatopoeic

imitative

When every goose is cackling.

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]:

I heard a grey hen cackling among the ling; I called and thought, "If I could get a sight of you now, it would be your last cackle;" just then I heard something moving behind me on the path.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 28:

(intransitive) To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does.

крякам

to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does


waul

en-verb

waul (third-person singular simple present wauls, present participle wauling, simple past and past participle wauled)

wauls (present singular third-person)
wauling (participle present)
wauled (participle past)
wauled (past)
wrawl (alternative)

From Middle English wraulen, wrawlen (“cry like a cat; roar”). Compare Danish vræle, vråle, Swedish vråla (“to bellow; roar; howl; yell”).

cog

Thou know’st, the first time that we smell the air, / We waul, and cry.

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 IV, scene vi]:

The Catapult wauled, "What if some poor man's dog was saved, — it was his comfort and defence; — he shared with the faithful creature his bread and butter: and when he dies, who watches his grave, — who, if we may so say, sheds a tear for the departed? — who, who, but his dog?[…]"

1850, Sylvester Judd, Richard Edney and the Governor's Family, page 298:

A cattish ghost-familiar wauls from a monument's bronze shoulder, seeing him see it, and he shrieks back in its own language, pulling a face so horrible that pedestrians scatter out of his path, their white cottons flapping.

2004, Michael Cisco, The San Veneficio Canon, page 75:


whicker

en-verb

whicker (third-person singular simple present whickers, present participle whickering, simple past and past participle whickered)

whickers (present singular third-person)
whickering (participle present)
whickered (participle past)
whickered (past)

Of a horse, to neigh softly, to make a breathy whinny.


gurgle

gurgle (third-person singular simple present gurgles, present participle gurgling, simple past and past participle gurgled)

gurgles (present singular third-person)
gurgling (participle present)
gurgled (participle past)
gurgled (past)

Back formation from Middle English gurguling (“a rumbling in the belly”). Akin to Middle Dutch gorgelen (“to gurgle”), Middle Low German gorgelen (“to gurgle”), German gurgeln (“to gargle”), and perhaps to Latin gurguliō (“throat”).

cog

The bath water gurgled down the drain.

Pure gurgling rills the lonely deſart trace, / And vvaſte their muſick on the ſavage race.

1727, [Edward Young], “Satire V. On Women.”, in Love of Fame, the Universal Passion. In Seven Characteristical Satires, 4th edition, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson […], published 1741, →OCLC, page 97:

The baby gurgled with delight.


gurgle

Then the conversation broke off, and there was little more talking, only a noise of men going backwards and forwards, and of putting down of kegs and the hollow gurgle of good liquor being poured from breakers into the casks.

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


hissing

The hissings and screamings of the vulgar against him as he moved forward on his stedfast course he heeded less than those of geese on a common.

1875, John Lothrop Motley, The Life and Death of John of Barneveld Advocate of Holland:


clank

A loud, hard sound of metal hitting metal.


clank

en-verb

clank (third-person singular simple present clanks, present participle clanking, simple past and past participle clanked)

clanks (present singular third-person)
clanking (participle present)
clanked (participle past)
clanked (past)

The chains clanked.

Slung from his shoulders clanks a two-handed sword, the pommel a huge star-ruby carven in the image of a heart, for the heart is his sign and symbol.

1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, London: Jonathan Cape, page 7:

Far less straightforward was what happened at about 0130 on Friday June 2 1944, as a long goods train was chuffing and clanking its unhurried way across the darkened landscape towards Soham, from Ely.

2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 42:

The prisoners clank their chains.

(transitive) To cause to sound with a clank.


sputter

sputter (third-person singular simple present sputters, present participle sputtering, simple past and past participle sputtered)

sputters (present singular third-person)
sputtering (participle present)
sputtered (participle past)
sputtered (past)

Probably representing Middle English *sputren, *sputrien, a frequentative form of Middle English sputen (“to spout, vomit”), equivalent to spout + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian spüttern (“to inject, spray, splash”), West Frisian sputterje (“to sputter”), Dutch sputteren (“to sputter”), Low German sputtern, spruttern (“to sprinkle”), German sprudeln (“to spout, squirt”). Compare splutter.

cog

They could neither of them speak their rage, and so fell a sputtering at one another, like two roasting apples.

1700, William Congreve, The Way of the World:

In the midst of caresses, and without the least pretended incitement, to sputter out the basest and falsest accusations.

1730, Jonathan Swift, A Vindication of Lord Carteret:

(ambitransitive) To speak so rapidly as to emit saliva; to utter words hastily and indistinctly, with a spluttering sound, as in rage.

sopertaa

to speak so rapidly as to emit saliva; to utter words hastily and indistinctly


roup

en-verb

roup (third-person singular simple present roups, present participle rouping, simple past and past participle rouped)

roups (present singular third-person)
rouping (participle present)
rouped (participle past)
rouped (past)


brekekekex

brekekekex (third-person singular simple present brekekekexes, present participle brekekekexing, simple past and past participle brekekekexed)

brekekekexes (present singular third-person)
brekekekexing (participle present)
brekekekexed (participle past)
brekekekexed (past)
brek-kek-kex (alternative)

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek βρεκεκεκέξ (brekekekéx), coined by Aristophanes in the comedy The Frogs.

lbor

There was not a fisherman on the river, not a peasant in the fields, nothing but those little vole-catchers and skimming wagtails, the waterbirds and the massed larks and the frogs, whose steady diurnal croak, though universal, seemed milder than the full-moon brekekekexing the night before.

1977, Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time of Gifts, page 306:


glub

en-verb

glub (third-person singular simple present glubs, present participle glubbing, simple past and past participle glubbed)

glubs (present singular third-person)
glubbing (participle present)
glubbed (participle past)
glubbed (past)

(informal) To make a sound like underwater bubbling; to glug.


glug

glugs (plural)
glook (alternative)
gluck (alternative)

Onomatopoeic, imitating the sound of pouring or swallowing liquid.

listen/core

Uncorking and first pour of Wild Turkey 101 bottle - 2021-10-15 - Andy Mabbett.mp3

Uncorking, first pour, and re-corking of a bottle of bourbon whiskey. During the pour, glugging can be heard.

listen

The blood did not come out of him in a glug but in a steady silent gush.

2004, Tom Bissell, “Death Defier”, in God Lives in St. Petersburg: Short Stories, Knopf Doubleday, published 2007:

The sound made when a significant amount of liquid is poured suddenly out of something, such as a jug or bottle.

Pour a glug of bleach into the toilet.

Slowly, Khoklov removed a silver flask from within his suit jacket. He had a long contemplative glug, then shuddered violently.

1996, Bruce Sterling, “The Littlest Jackal”, in A Good Old-Fashioned Future, Bantam Spectra, published 1999, →ISBN:

She turned the taps to start the water running, poured in a generous glug of vanilla bubble bath, then moved into the bedroom, to the desk in the corner where her laptop sat open.

2015, Cindy Myers, Above It All, Kensington, →ISBN:

(informal) The amount of liquid issued when the "glug" sound is heard.


glug

The sound made when a significant amount of liquid is poured out of a jug, bottle, etc., or when such an amount is swallowed by a person.


slosh

en-verb

slosh (third-person singular simple present sloshes, present participle sloshing, simple past and past participle sloshed)

sloshes (present singular third-person)
sloshing (participle present)
sloshed (participle past)
sloshed (past)

The boy sloshed water over the edge of the bath.

(transitive, of a liquid) To cause to slosh.

His boots were so completely soaked that they sloshed when he walked.

(intransitive) To make a sloshing sound.


slosh

en-noun

slosh (countable and uncountable, plural sloshes)

Shoes and socks, soaked and frozen in the mud and icy slosh, did little to protect their feet.

2012, Cathy Gohlke, Promise Me This, page 299:


blip

Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1

When the blip began to move up the oscilloscope screen, they followed again.

1984 August, Frederick [McCarthy] Forsyth, The Fourth Protocol, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN:

At 6:45 pm, the chief officer saw a blip on the radar, approximately seven nautical miles away.

2004, Asaf Degani, “The Grounding of the Royal Majesty”, in Taming HAL: Designing Interfaces beyond 2001, New York, N.Y., Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 111:

(electronics) A small dot registered on electronic equipment, such as a radar or oscilloscope screen.

parpelleig

Blip..Blip..Blip..Blip / There was that annoying noise again. Anger entered my subconscious as the dream came to an abrupt end.

2000, Ken Norton, Marshall Terrill, Mike Fitzgerald, “Prologue”, in Going the Distance, Champaign, Ill.: Sports Publishing, →ISBN, page 2:

The most popular event is Joel's computer-based biofeedback game. […] The goal is to move the balloons skyward while avoiding the rockets that the computer shoots toward the balloons. You dodge the rockets by consciously adjusting your muscle tone between relaxation and tension. […] The little "blip" sound that happens when a balloon is shot down becomes a duet with the player. "Blip" "Damn!" "Blip" "Damn!" "Blip" "Damn!"

2007, Richard Strozzi-Heckler, In Search of the Warrior Spirit: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets, 4th edition, Berkeley, Calif.: Blue Snake Books, →ISBN, page 39:

A short sound of a single pitch, usually electronically generated.


blip

en-verb

blip (third-person singular simple present blips, present participle blipping, simple past and past participle blipped)

blips (present singular third-person)
blipping (participle present)
blipped (participle past)
blipped (past)

The door blipped as I showed my electronic identity card and passed through.

(intransitive) To make a short beep sound.

[…] even walking off his own show once after an NBC censor had arbitrarily blipped a mildly risque joke from the day's tape.

2003, Harry Castleman, Walter J. Podrazik, Watching TV: Six Decades of American Television, page 155:

(transitive) Synonym of bleep (“to replace offending words in a broadcast recording with a tone”)


plunk

plunk (third-person singular simple present plunks, present participle plunking, simple past and past participle plunked)

plunks (present singular third-person)
plunking (participle present)
plunked (participle past)
plunked (past)


borborigmus

en-noun

borborigmus (countable and uncountable, plural borborigmi)

borborigmi (plural)
borborygmus (alternative)

/bɔːbəˈɹɪɡməs/

From Ancient Greek βορβορυγμός (borborugmós).

1973: chilli 'n' trepidation were playing the devil with my small intestines and my borborigmus was often louder than the engine of the Rolls — Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me (Penguin 2001, p. 94)

A rumbling sound made by the movement of gas in the intestines.


tramping

tramping (countable and uncountable, plural trampings)

Now we was in the lean-to, and heard trampings close by outside. So we crept to the door, and Tom stopped us there and put his eye to the crack, but couldn't make out nothing, it was so dark

1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:

The act or sound of one who tramps, or walks heavily.


clack

From Middle English clacken, clakken, claken, from Old English *clacian (“to slap, clap, clack”), from Proto-Germanic *klakōną (“to clap, chirp”). Cognate with Scots clake, claik (“to utter cries", also "to bedaub, sully with a sticky substance”), Dutch klakken (“to clack, crack”), Low German klakken (“to slap on, daub”), Norwegian klakke (“to clack, strike, knock”), Icelandic klaka (“to twitter, chatter, wrangle, dispute”).

cog

An abrupt, sharp sound, especially one made by two hard objects colliding repetitively; a sound midway between a click and a clunk.


clack

en-verb

clack (third-person singular simple present clacks, present participle clacking, simple past and past participle clacked)

clacks (present singular third-person)
clacking (participle present)
clacked (participle past)
clacked (past)

There is a generation of men, whose unweighed custome makes them clack out any thing their heedleſs fancy ſprings

1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine, Moral, Political:

The women bunched up in little droves and let their tongues clack, and the men herded together and passed a jug around and, to tell the truth, let their tongues clack too.

1953, Janice Holt Giles, The Kentuckians:

To chatter or babble; to utter rapidly without consideration.

Only the chickens clacked at the Saturday quiet and fat mouse-minded cats licked whiskers on the empty steps.

1934, Gladys Bagg Taber, Late Climbs the Sun, page 30:

We drive on between meadows of mown grass, through a pergola of vines, and so to an orchard of peaches, apples, and pears and a hen colony housed in neat modern cottages, the chickens clacking and scratching away […]

1964, Frances Margaret Cheadle McGuire, Gardens of Italy, page 57:


clicking

Thus one pair of dolphins talking can sound like two pairs of dolphins talking, one pair exchanging clickings, the other pair exchanging whistles.

2001, Bobby Matherne, The Spizznet File: An Adventure in Interspecies Communication:


scraping

From Middle English scrapinge, equivalent to scrape + -ing.

We explored the basement, wherein she had so often heard heavy footsteps, thuddings, and scrapings.

2003, Brad Steiger, Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places, page 30:

The sound or action of something being scraped.


chack

chack (third-person singular simple present chacks, present participle chacking, simple past and past participle chacked)

chacks (present singular third-person)
chacking (participle present)
chacked (participle past)
chacked (past)

From Michael Chack, an American figure skater whose bronze-medal-winning performance at the 1993 US National Championships was not broadcast on televsion because the producers did not think he would win a medal.

Michael Chack pulled WAY up in the standings in his long [skate event]...but was chacked while we saw five guys skate worse!!

1998, Louis Epstein, “US National Men's Final RESULTS”, in rec.sport.skating.ice.figure (Usenet):

I'm hoping ABC doesn't chack her performance...how could they??

2002, Jonas, International Skating Union Discussion Boards: Figure Skating: Yukari Nakano, the reigning world jr silver medalist, landed a triple axel:

Did they chack Kostner's skate because of the fluff piece on the Russian pairs or not? I kind of like her and wanted to see her.

2004, Rex, “The Rest of Skate Canada: Phaneuf Rocks! The First Time I saw the Two Canadian Pairs Skate!”, in rec.sport.skating.ice.figure (Usenet):

(ice-skating, transitive) To not broadcast a medal-winning or otherwise memorable or crucial figure skating performance. This only occurs in a live broadcast because the network has to decide which programs to show and which to cut in the interest of time. If a skater is low in the rankings and several big names are set to skate later, that performance may be cut.


sibilation

en-noun

sibilation (countable and uncountable, plural sibilations)

Latin sibilatio, from sībilāre (“to hiss”).

From the shadows emanated a hushed sibilation.

The exact labial sibilation denoted by f, and the soft sibilation z are unknown in Sanskrit.

1962, Sir Monier Monier-Williams, A practical grammar of the Sanskrit language, page 18:


crashing

the ceaseless crashings of waves on the beach

The sound or action of something that crashes.


droning

For a long while a man may hear the droning of little insects and yet not be aware that he hath heard them, so may the gods not hear our prayers at first until they have been very oft repeated.

1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 61:


lowing

And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheepe in mine eares, and the lowing of the oxen which I heare?

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 15:14:

Nor is Oſiris seen
In Memphian Grove, or Green,
Trampling the unſhower'd Graſſe with lowings loud:

1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 11:

[…] the herd of four or five hundred cattle trotting homewards with loud lowings and bellowings […]

1918, William Henry Hudson, Far Away and Long Ago:


pealing

Then when the words were said, and man's form had tried to sanctify that which was already divine, we walked amid the pealings of the “Wedding March” into the vestry[…]

1895, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Stark Munro Letters:


snarling

When dogs fight, there are usually preliminaries to the actual combat — snarlings and bristlings and stiff-legged struttings. But White Fang learned to omit these preliminaries.

1906 May–October, Jack London, White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 3 (The Gods of the Wild), pages 144–145:


clop

Perhaps from German or Dutch kloppen (“to hit, knock”), from Middle Dutch cloppen (“to make a clopping sound”), of onomatopoeic origin. See also clap.

der

(slang) My Little Pony-themed pornography.


clop

en-verb

clop (third-person singular simple present clops, present participle clopping, simple past and past participle clopped)

clops (present singular third-person)
clopping (participle present)
clopped (participle past)
clopped (past)

Robert Loo sat and listened behind his counter, his heart aching, his eyes staring at nothing, while his brothers cheerfully clopped around, occasionally calling to the kitchen, as customers drifted somnambulistically in.

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 569:

To make this sound; to walk so as to make this sound.


burble

From Middle English burblen (“to bubble”), imitative.

onomatopoeic

imitative

Marta's gander was a magnificent snow-white bird: the object of terror to foxes, children and dogs. She had reared him as a gosling; and whenever he approached, he would let fly a low contented burble and sidle his neck around her thighs.

1988, Bruce Chatwin, Utz, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN; republished London: Vintage Books, 2005, →ISBN, page 50:

A bubbling, gurgling sound, as of a creek.


burble

en-verb

burble (third-person singular simple present burbles, present participle burbling, simple past and past participle burbled)

burbles (present singular third-person)
burbling (participle present)
burbled (participle past)
burbled (past)

onomatopoeic

imitative

She burbled on, as if I cared to listen.

"No, Jo, it wasn't one bit crowded, there was room enought ^([sic]) for everyone," she burbled on. "And we were there, and all these other wymeen too, of all shapes, sizes, and colors..."

1980 August 16, Andrea Loewenstein, “Random Lust”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 5, page 19:

“No way this one’s going to miss us this time,” burbles one bebooted doomsdayer to another.

1995 December 21, Tony Chamberlain, “We all love snow games: Some take time to play; others seize chance to panic”, in The Boston Globe, volume 248, number 174, Boston, Mass., page 91:


ticking

Were they indeed the tickings of a hundred clocks — the fine low inward breathings of Time's children!

1842, Laman Blanchard, “The Frolics of Time”, in George Cruikshank's Omnibus:

The combination of “monotony” and “variety,” which keeps the writer in a trance-like state between sleep and wake, is then characterized by the figure of a ticking watch: “If certain sensitive persons listen persistently to the ticking of a watch [...] they fall into the hypnotic trance; and rhythm is but the ticking of a watch made softer, that one must needs listen, and various, that one may not be swept beyond memory or grow weary of listening” (1961: 159).

2018 May, Angela Leighton, Hearing Things: The Work of Sound in Literature, Harvard University Press, page 237:

second hand#English:_hand showing seconds

A sound of something ticking. (For example, the second hand on a clock face.)


chirrup

en-verb

chirrup (third-person singular simple present chirrups, present participle chirruping, simple past and past participle chirruped)

chirrups (present singular third-person)
chirruping (participle present)
chirruped (participle past)
chirruped (past)

When other folks' squirrels are at home and asleep, yourn keep in motion among the trees and chirrup and sing, in a way that even a Delaware gal can understand their music!

1841, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 17, in The Deerslayer: Or, the First War-path:

Face Eater Cat is a very happy, healthy animal who's found her forever home, and she chirrups along when serenaded with eighties hits. It's a match made in heaven.

2022 July 23, “A She-Cat Tamed By The Purr Of Her Humans”, in Not Always Right, archived from the original on 2022-12-11:

(intransitive) To make a series of chirps, clicks, or clucks.

naksuttaa

to make a series of chirps, clicks or clucks (of technical or other origin)

цвъркам

to make a series of chirps, clicks or clucks (birds)

цвъртя

to make a series of chirps, clicks or clucks (insects, esp. crickets)


chirrup

1845 Charles Dickens, The Cricket on the Hearth, Chirp the First,
And here, if you like, the Cricket DID chime in! with a Chirrup, Chirrup, Chirrup of such magnitude, by way of chorus […]

[…] the music flashed by in delirious chirrups and stampings.

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 9, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

Geklicker

A series of chirps, clicks or clucks (of technical or other origin)

Zwitschern

A series of chirps, clicks or clucks (birds)

Gezirpe

A series of chirps, clicks or clucks (insects, esp. crickets)

For an hour or more that evening I listened to his monotonous chirrup about bad money driving out good, the token value of silver, the depreciation of the rupee, and the true standards of exchange.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

“[…]Children, say ‘thank you’ to Mrs. Samuel Josephs.” Two subdued chirrups: “Thank you, Mrs. Samuel Josephs.”

1918 June, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Prelude”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 2:

(figurative, derogatory) A brief, high-pitched, insignificant statement.

Geschnatter

A brief, high-pitched, insignificant statement (metaphorical)


cawing

Whilst the proceedings of the Rooks seemed to be regulated with order and system, their cawings were significant of a good understanding, and the musical tones mentioned by the Editor of "The Naturalist," no one could fail to distinguish.

1858, The Naturalist, volume 8, page 147:


mewling

I heard a faint mewling from under the house.


bellowing

The cries of applause and derision from the spectators, and the formidable bellowings of the exasperated monks who surrounded Pachymius, did not tend to steady his nerves, or render the task of critical discrimination the easier.

1890, Richard Garnett, The Twilight of the Gods, and Other Tales:

Incessant bellowings fill all the earth, Mingled with inextinguishable mirth.

1892, Ambrose Bierce, Black Beetles in Amber:

With great heavings and throes, with snortings and bellowings, with scratchings and tearings of its great claws and lashings of its terrible tail, it writhed and fought to be free, and the light of thousands of fireworks illuminated the gigantic struggle.

The sound produced when someone or something bellows