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Synonyms

skirl

American  
[skurl] / skɜrl /

verb (used without object)

  1. to play the bagpipe.

  2. Scot. and North England. to shriek.

noun

  1. the sound of a bagpipe.

  2. Scot. and North England. any shrill sound.

skirl British  
/ skɪrl, skɜːl /

verb

  1. dialect (esp of bagpipes) to emit a shrill sound

  2. to play the bagpipes

"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

noun

  1. the sound of bagpipes

  2. a shrill sound

"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

Etymology

Origin of skirl

1350–1400; Middle English scirlen, skrillen (v.), perhaps < Scandinavian; compare Norwegian skrella boom, crash

Vocabulary lists containing skirl

"Coming of Age in the Dawnland," Vocabulary from the historical excerpt

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Belief swirled like the skirl of the bagpipes.

From BBC • Nov. 8, 2025

Bringing Scotland to the Pacific Northwest for over 75 years through the skirl o’ the Pipes and Drums, the beauty of Highland Dancing, the brawn of Scottish athletics, and the sharing of clan history!

From Seattle Times • Apr. 26, 2024

"It had all the strange, wild, emotional force of the skirl of a bagpipe," wrote Herbert Warren Wind.

From Golf Digest • Apr. 13, 2020

The skirl also got to Lily Cunningham, a pixie of a 13-year-old who stood beside the evening’s emcee, Arthur McAra, clutching her three-quarter-sized bagpipe.

From Washington Times • Jan. 31, 2017

Two Glover men began a spinning skirl on bladder and woodharp.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.