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trill1

[tril]
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verb (used with object)
  1. to sing or play with a vibratory or quavering effect.
  2. Phonetics. to produce (a sound) with a trill.
  3. (of birds, insects, etc.) to sing or utter in a succession of rapidly alternating sounds.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to resound vibrantly, or with a rapid succession of sounds, as the voice, song, or laughter.
  2. to utter or make a sound or succession of sounds resembling such singing, as a bird, frog, grasshopper, or person laughing.
  3. to execute a shake or trill with the voice or on a musical instrument.
  4. Phonetics. to execute a trill, especially with the tongue, as while singing, talking, or whistling.
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noun
  1. the act or sound of trilling.
  2. Music. a rapid alternation of two adjacent tones; a shake.
  3. a similar sound, or succession of sounds, uttered or made by a bird, an insect, a person laughing, etc.
  4. Phonetics.
    1. a sequence of repetitive, rapid, vibratory movements produced in any free articulator or membrane by a rush of air expelled from the lungs and often causing a corresponding sequence of contacts between the vibrating articulator and another organ or surface.
    2. a speech sound produced by such a trill.
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Origin of trill1

1635–45; < Italian trillo quaver or warble in singing ≪ Germanic; compare Dutch trillen to vibrate, late Middle English trillen to shake or rock (something)

trill2

[tril]Archaic.
verb (used without object)
  1. to flow in a thin stream; trickle.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to cause to flow in a thin stream.
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Origin of trill2

1300–50; Middle English trillen to make (something) turn, to roll, flow (said of tears, water) < Old Danish trijlæ to roll (said, e.g., of tears and of a wheelbarrow); compare Norwegian trille, Swedish trilla. See trill1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

quavervibratevibratorollshakesoundtwirl

Examples from the Web for trilled

Historical Examples

  • If she had been a singing-bird she would have trilled to the piano; but she had not a note of music.

    Love and Lucy

    Maurice Henry Hewlett

  • I stood there dizzy, watching it die while Tweel trilled and whistled.

    A Martian Odyssey

    Stanley Grauman Weinbaum

  • It trilled with a silvery sweetness and was repeated over and over again.

    Blackbeard: Buccaneer

    Ralph D. Paine

  • "But we filled his bottle with luck," trilled the silvery lady upstairs.

    The King of Alsander

    James Elroy Flecker

  • She trilled like a thrush, or a linnet, or any bird that goes in largely for trilling.

British Dictionary definitions for trilled

trill1

noun
  1. music a melodic ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between a principal note and the note a whole tone or semitone above itUsual symbol: (written above a note) tr., tr
  2. a shrill warbling sound, esp as made by some birds
  3. phonetics
    1. the articulation of an (r) sound produced by holding the tip of the tongue close to the alveolar ridge, allowing the tongue to make a succession of taps against the ridge
    2. the production of a similar effect using the uvula against the back of the tongue
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verb
  1. to sound, sing, or play (a trill or with a trill)
  2. (tr) to pronounce (an (r) sound) by the production of a trill
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Word Origin

C17: from Italian trillo, from trillare, apparently from Middle Dutch trillen to vibrate

trill2

verb, noun
  1. an archaic or poetic word for trickle
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Word Origin

C14: probably of Scandinavian origin; related to Norwegian trilla to roll; see trill 1
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

Word Origin and History for trilled

trill

n.

1640s, from Italian trillio, triglio "a quavering or warbling in singing," probably of imitative origin. The verb is 1660s, from Italian trillare "to quaver, trill." Related: Trilled; trilling.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper