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 of yodel
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 of yodel
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 for yodel
C19: from German jodeln, of imitative origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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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