growl
[groul]
- to utter a deep guttural sound of anger or hostility: The dog growled at the mail carrier.
- to murmur or complain angrily; grumble.
- to rumble: The thunder growled.
- Jazz. to use flutter-tonguing in playing a wind instrument.
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- to express by growling.
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- the act or sound of growling.
- Jazz. the technique of flutter-tonguing.
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Origin of growl
1350–1400; Middle English groule to rumble (said of the bowels); cognate with German grollen
Synonym study
2. See complain.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for growl
Contemporary Examples
Students moan and growl and shriek and yawp, as if exorcising demons in a ritualistic ceremony.
She smiles, which sounds like a small thing, but a lot of Republicans growl.
When she moves in toward him, he turns his back with a growl.
“A growl and a shake,” the attorney, Jasper Monti, tells The Daily Beast.
Woman Bites Her Dog, Illinois Police Say, Charging Analise Garner With the AssaultMichael Daly
May 1, 2012
Historical Examples
The voice, too, when he spoke, was as deep and as fierce as the growl of a beast of prey.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
The head-master bowed to the bishop, and walked away, leaving Ketch on the growl.
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
They barely raised their heads to growl, and did not answer Pierre's questions.
The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteEmile Zola
Beyond a growl or a grunt, the dog took its punishment silently.
White FangJack London
This growl he could not suppress; nor did the man-animal resent it by giving him a blow on the head.
White FangJack London
growl
- (of animals, esp when hostile) to utter (sounds) in a low inarticulate mannerthe dog growled at us
- to utter (words) in a gruff or angry mannerhe growled an apology
- (intr) to make sounds suggestive of an animal growlingthe thunder growled around the lake
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- the act or sound of growling
- jazz an effect resembling a growl, produced at the back of the throat when playing a wind instrument
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Word Origin
C18: from earlier grolle, from Old French grouller to grumble
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for growl
v.
1660s, from Middle English grollen "to rumble, growl" (early 15c.), from Old French grouler "to rumble," said to be from Frankish; probably ultimately of imitative origin. Related: Growled; growling. The noun is 1727, from the verb.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper