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

Other Word Forms

• yowler 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

He lacked the abrasiveness or gruffness found in many metal singers, opting instead for a theatrical melodic yowl with silvery overtones.

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These dogs aren’t huge barkers, but they might yowl at you, especially if you aren’t getting the leash for a walk quickly enough.

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In one number, Swinton, who goes glossy-eyed to show the cracks in her high-fashion veneer, poses in a transparent rain slicker while bleating raw, yowling noises that blend with the despairing strings.

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“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.

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“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.

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