shrill
adjective
high-pitched and piercing in sound quality.
were shrilling
-
past progressiveof shrill.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
The pipes and reeds were shrilling furiously, and the susurration of Yillian conversation from the other tables rose ever higher in competition.
From The Yillian Way by Keith Laumer
But they were shrilling new directions at him; perhaps they had been calling to him several times.
From Bull Hunter by Max Brand
The grasshoppers were shrilling; all the birds who had their nests in the tree nearby retired and, as it was still light, they lingered in the branches to trill their good-night cadences.
From Brazilian Tales by Isaac Goldberg
Millions of grasshoppers were shrilling in the forest, filling the air with a metallic throbbing, and flocks of frightened parrots rushed from tree to tree.
From From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan by H. P. (Helena Petrovna) Blavatsky
Birds were calling to their mates and their young; the locusts were shrilling out of depths of sunlight.
From Madelon A Novel by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
