yowl

[ youl ]
See synonyms for yowl on Thesaurus.com
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.

Origin of yowl

1
1175–1225; Middle English yuhele, yule, youle, apparently from a cry of pain or distress yuhele; compare Old English geoh- (in geohthu grief)

Words Nearby yowl

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use yowl in a sentence

  • Here he slept very comfortably until noon, and then the familiar 'yowl-yowl' awakened him.

    Lives of the Fur Folk | M. D. Haviland
  • They galloped away, and the 'yowl-yowl' of the pack died away over the moor.

    Lives of the Fur Folk | M. D. Haviland
  • Hippity-Hop gave a yowl of fear, and twisted to scratch Jan's eyes, but he gripped her firmly, though his teeth did not hurt her.

    Prince Jan, St. Bernard | Forrestine C. Hooker
  • Well, jest as I was finished, and was a saying amen, the lordy mercy what a yowl something did give right over me in a tree!

    Hoosier Mosaics | Maurice Thompson
  • Then he gave a yowl which rang through the schoolroom, providing exhilarating diversion to two hundred lifted heads.

British Dictionary definitions for yowl

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

Origin of yowl

1
C13: from Old Norse gaula; related to German jaulen; see yawl ²

Derived forms of yowl

  • yowler, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012