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yawp

or yaup

[yawp, yahp]
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verb (used without object)
  1. to utter a loud, harsh cry; to yelp, squawk, or bawl.
  2. Slang. to talk noisily and foolishly or complainingly.
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noun
  1. a harsh cry.
  2. Slang.
    1. raucous or querulous speech.
    2. a noisy, foolish utterance.
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Origin of yawp

1300–50; Middle English yolpen; akin to yelp
Related formsyawp·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

yelpcrygripeyapbawlscream

Examples from the Web for yawp

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Hear him for his cause, and 'hold your yawp,' till he has said what he has got to say.

  • Dont let me hear of you opening your yawp the way you did just now.

    The Heart of Canyon Pass

    Thomas K. Holmes

  • You'd keep that yawp o' your'n goin', I believe, if it was the judgment day.

    David Harum

    Edward Noyes Westcott

  • They can yawp and chortle and call me Skyrider as if it was a joke.

    Skyrider

    B. M. Bower

  • From his raggedly whiskered lips burst a growl and a yawp which, too late, he regretted.

    The Tyranny of Weakness

    Charles Neville Buck

British Dictionary definitions for yawp

yawp

verb (intr)
  1. to gape or yawn, esp audibly
  2. to shout, cry, or talk noisily; bawl
  3. to bark, yelp, or yowl
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noun
  1. a shout, bark, yelp, or cry
  2. US and Canadian a noisy, foolish, or raucous utterance
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Derived Formsyawper, noun

Word Origin

C15: yolpen, probably of imitative origin; see yap, yelp
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 yawp

v.

c.1300, yolpen, probably echoic variant of yelpen (see yelp). Related: Yawped; yawping. The noun, in reference to speech, is recorded from 1835, now used chiefly with conscious echo of Whitman.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper