yodel

[ yohd-l ]

See synonyms for: yodel yodeler on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with or without object),yo·deled, yo·del·ing, or (especially British) yo·delled, yo·del·ling.

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.

noun

a song, refrain, etc., so sung.
a call or shout so uttered.

Origin of yodel

First recorded in 1835–40, from southern German dialect jodeln, from jo, an exclamation

Sometimes yo·dle .

Other words from yodel

yo·del·er, noun

Words Nearby yodel

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use yodel in a sentence

Because we all grow up singing, and we learn tricks that we like that this singer did or that singer did — you know, a yodel here, a break there.
Jakob Dylan has always been part cowboy-troubadour, part rabbi | Tim Greiving | July 9, 2021 | Washington Post
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 Bayou | John Ed Bradley | April 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
I emailed yodel to explain an got a automated reply saying my parcel has been delivered and signed for?
Penis Beakers and Constipated Dolls: What Mothers REALLY Want To Know | Tom Sykes | October 11, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
From far above came the notes of a merry song; occasionally there was heard a long, echoing yodel, then more singing.
Moni the Goat Boy and Other Stories | Johanna Spyri
Jimmie gave another yodel, louder and longer than the first.
The Automobile Girls Along the Hudson | Laura Dent Crane

Away in the distance coyotes lifted their yodel, half jocular, half mournful, as a maudlin drunkard sings dolefully a merry tune.
The Heritage of the Hills | Arthur P. Hankins
Then I discovered that there is a trill, a tiny grace note or yodel, at the end of his second note.
Wilderness Ways | William J Long
Jane Abbott turned and looked down, amazed that the mountain girl should have the effrontery to yodel to her.
Meg of Mystery Mountain | Grace May North

British Dictionary definitions for yodel

yodel

/ (ˈjəʊdəl) /

noun

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

verb-dels, -delling or -delled or US -dels, -deling or -deled

to sing (a song) in which a yodel is used

Origin of yodel

C19: from German jodeln, of imitative origin

Derived forms of yodel

yodeller, noun

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

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