yelp

[ yelp ]

verb (used without object)

1. to give a quick, sharp, shrill cry, as a dog or fox.
2. to call or cry out sharply:

   The boy yelped in pain when the horse stepped on his foot.

verb (used with object)

1. to utter or express by or as if by yelping.

noun

1. a quick, sharp bark or cry.

yelp

/ jɛlp /

verb

1. (esp of a dog) to utter a sharp or high-pitched cry or bark, often indicating pain

noun

1. a sharp or high-pitched cry or bark

Derived Forms

• ˈyelper, noun

Other Words From

• yelper noun
• outyelp verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of yelp¹

before 900; (v.) Middle English yelpen, Old English gielpan to boast; cognate with Low German galpen to croak; (noun) Middle English: boasting, Old English gielp, derivative of the v.

Word History and Origins

Origin of yelp¹

Old English gielpan to boast; related to Low German galpen to croak, Danish gylpe to croak

Example Sentences

“Am I the bad one?” yelps the singer and percussionist Ollie Judge, embodying a morally dubious character who is only just beginning to question the customs of his culture.

From New York Times

But for that moment we sang together, a collective yelp of determination to keep dancing.

From Salon

“I was trying to brush her ‘cause she stepped in something,” she said, more yelping coming from inside the car.

From Los Angeles Times

Her convention-speech promise that she would work with “small business owners and entrepreneurs and American companies to create jobs” was pro-capitalist enough to draw mild yelps from a few progressive critics.

From Los Angeles Times

His power is in his voice — a twitchy, erratic, untethered yelp — that reveals him not as a victim, but as a vessel of chronic pain.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• hoot