yodel
or yo·dle
[yohd-l]
- to sing with frequent changes from the ordinary voice to falsetto and back again, in the manner of Swiss and Tyrolean mountaineers.
- to call or shout in a similar fashion.
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- a song, refrain, etc., so sung.
- a call or shout so uttered.
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Origin of yodel
First recorded in 1865–70, yodel is from the German word jodeln
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for yodel
Contemporary Examples
In a minute he'll yodel like the singing cowboys in the movies he loved so much as a kid.
The Stacks: The Neville Brothers Stake Their Claim as Bards of the BayouJohn Ed Bradley
April 27, 2014
Historical Examples
Graham promptly answered: "Yes, silly—she'll wear goatskin—and she'll yodel."
HighacresJane Abbott
I explored the vicinity of the cave, and risked a yodel or two, but there was no response.
But he did not yodel in the yard or whistle under the window.
Sube CaneEdward Bellamy Partridge
It immediately became a case of he who laughs first, lives to yodel.
"And they thought we wouldn't fight"Floyd Gibbons
The case of Yodel, the auctioneer, was even more inscrutable.
Sunshine Sketches of a Little TownStephen Leacock
yodel
- an effect produced in singing by an abrupt change of register from the chest voice to falsetto, esp in popular folk songs of the Swiss Alps
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- to sing (a song) in which a yodel is used
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Word Origin
C19: from German jodeln, of imitative origin
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 yodel
1827, from German jodeln, from dialectal German jo, an exclamation of joy, of imitative origin.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper