yawp

or yaup

[yawp, yahp]

See more synonyms for yawp on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object)

to utter a loud, harsh cry; to yelp, squawk, or bawl.
Slang. to talk noisily and foolishly or complainingly.

noun

a harsh cry.
Slang.
1. raucous or querulous speech.
2. a noisy, foolish utterance.

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. 2019

Related Words for yawp

yelp, cry, gripe, yap, bawl, scream

Examples from the Web for yawp

Contemporary Examples of yawp

Students moan and growl and shriek and yawp, as if exorcising demons in a ritualistic ceremony.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze
Lizzie Crocker
January 9, 2015

Historical Examples of yawp

Hear him for his cause, and 'hold your yawp,' till he has said what he has got to say.
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 57, No. 1, January 1861
Various
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)

to gape or yawn, esp audibly
to shout, cry, or talk noisily; bawl
to bark, yelp, or yowl

noun

a shout, bark, yelp, or cry
US and Canadian a noisy, foolish, or raucous utterance

Derived Formsyawper, noun

Word Origin for yawp

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

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.