shrieking


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shriek

 (shrēk)
n.
1. A shrill, often frantic cry.
2. A sound suggestive of such a cry.
v. shrieked, shriek·ing, shrieks
v.intr.
1. To utter a shriek.
2. To make a sound similar to a shriek.
v.tr.
To utter with a shriek.

[Middle English skriken, shriken, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse skrækja.]

shriek′er n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.shrieking - sharp piercing cryshrieking - sharp piercing cry; "her screaming attracted the neighbors"
cry, outcry, shout, vociferation, yell, call - a loud utterance; often in protest or opposition; "the speaker was interrupted by loud cries from the rear of the audience"
2.shrieking - a high-pitched noise resembling a human cryshrieking - a high-pitched noise resembling a human cry; "he ducked at the screechings of shells"; "he heard the scream of the brakes"
noise - sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound); "he enjoyed the street noises"; "they heard indistinct noises of people talking"; "during the firework display that ended the gala the noise reached 98 decibels"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

shrieking

[ˈʃriːkɪŋ]
A. ADJ [child] → chillón
B. Nchillidos mpl, gritos mpl
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
References in classic literature ?
With a shriek that might have been heard at Lewes she dropped the dish upon the stone floor, and, turning, ran, still shrieking at the top of her lungs, straight for the great dining hall.
When the shrieking behind them died away, Pavel realized that he was alone upon the familiar road.
At any rate, the very fact that the strange, invisible guardians of this weird place had some reason for wishing him not to enter this particular chamber was sufficient to treble Tarzan's desire to do so, and though the shrieking was repeated continuously, he kept his shoulder to the door until it gave before his giant strength to swing open upon creaking wooden hinges.
The stricken woman, on her back, drumming her heels on the floor, was shrieking persistently and monotonously, like a mechanical siren.
All up and down the great bluff, we crowded the crevices and outside ledges, and we were all chattering and shrieking in a thousand keys.
After his prayer they put the noose around the young girl's neck, and they had great trouble to adjust the knot under her ear, because she was devouring the baby all the time, wildly kissing it, and snatching it to her face and her breast, and drenching it with tears, and half moaning, half shrieking all the while, and the baby crowing, and laughing, and kicking its feet with delight over what it took for romp and play.
Ha-ah!" and then she commenced her gibbering and shrieking again.
At last my hand closed upon the ship's rail and that very instant a horrid shriek rang out below me that sent my blood cold and turned my horrified eyes downward to a shrieking, hurtling, twisting thing that shot downward into the awful chasm beneath me.
With a horrified scream the poor woman rose to her hands and knees, and in this position scurried across the room, shrieking: "O Gaberelle!
Jav was shrieking still, and clawing at the royal couch that had already commenced to slide toward the centre of the room, where both Thuvia and Carthoris suddenly noted a small orifice which grew in diameter as the floor assumed more closely a funnel-like contour.
When I saw "King Lear" played, nobody was allowed to see a scene shifted; if there was nothing to be done but slide a forest out of the way and expose a temple beyond, one did not see that forest split itself in the middle and go shrieking away, with the accompanying disenchanting spectacle of the hands and heels of the impelling impulse--no, the curtain was always dropped for an instant--one heard not the least movement behind it--but when it went up, the next instant, the forest was gone.
Once, he went aloft, and the rope broke, and they caught him shrieking; twice, he went aloft, and the rope broke, and they caught him shrieking; then, the rope was merciful, and held him, and his head was soon upon a pike, with grass enough in the mouth for all Saint Antoine to dance at the sight of.