yowl

[ youl ]

verb (used without object)

1. to utter a long, distressful or dismal cry, as an animal or a person; howl.

noun

1. a yowling cry; a howl.

yowl

/ jaʊl /

verb

1. to express with or produce a loud mournful wail or cry; howl

noun

1. a loud mournful cry; wail or howl

Derived Forms

• ˈyowler, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of yowl¹

1175–1225; Middle English yuhele, yule, youle, apparently from a cry of pain or distress yuhele; compare Old English geoh- (in geohthu grief )

Word History and Origins

Origin of yowl¹

C13: from Old Norse gaula; related to German jaulen; see yawl ²

Example Sentences

“Noid” was dense and menacing, Tyler’s flow somewhere between a growl and a yowl; “Darling, I” was light and whimsical but almost painfully yearning too.

From Los Angeles Times

“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose,” Joplin sang in her signature blues-rock yowl — perhaps the best-known piece of wisdom in Kristofferson’s very wise catalog.

From Los Angeles Times

She was making her way from the parking lot to the hospital when she heard yowling coming from some bushes.

From Los Angeles Times

Though I could not fight them, I yowled so ferociously that the courtroom crowd—traitors, all of them!—hissed and scattered.

From Literature

Curled up in his bed, Abel listened despondently to the howling and yowling, the lashing and whistling of the wind.

From Literature