shriek meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

shriek

noun

/ʃɹiːk/

Etymology From obsolete shrick (1567), shreke, variants of earlier screak, skricke (before 1500), from Middle English scrycke, from a North Germanic/Scandinavian language (compare Swedish skrika, Danish skrige, Icelandic skríkja), from Proto-Germanic *skrīkijaną, *skrik- (compare English screech). More at screech.

A sharp, shrill outcry or scream; a shrill wild cry caused by sudden or extreme terror, pain, or the like.

Shrieks, clamours, murmurs, fill the frighted town.1697, Virgil, “The Seventh Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
Sabor, the lioness, was a wise hunter. To one less wise the wild alarm of her fierce cry as she sprang would have seemed a foolish thing, for could she not more surely have fallen upon her victims had she but quietly leaped without that loud shriek?1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC:

UK, Slang An exclamation mark.

Derived terms: shriek owl

shriek

verb

To utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry, as do some birds and beasts; to scream, as in a sudden fright, in horror or anguish.

Feebly ſhe ſhriekt, but ſo feebly indeed / That Britomart heard not the ſhrilling ſound.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 95:
It was the owl that shrieked.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

3 more examples

At this she shriek'd aloud; the mournful train / Echoed her grief.1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
"[O]h, yes! the loon does shriek dreadfully - particularly when there's fine rain[.]"1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 286:
In winter the place was deserted and, with cold damp wind from the sea shrieking in the telegraph wires, the general feeling could be one of desolation.1954 March, W. A. Tuplin, “Recollections of the Wirral Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 169:

To utter sharply and shrilly; to utter in or with a shriek or shrieks.

The ghostly owl, shrieking his baleful note.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 33:
She shrieked his name to the dark woods.1817, Thomas Moore, Lalla Rookh […] , London: Longman […] :

Synonyms: shrill
Derived terms: ashriek, outshriek, shrieker, shriekery, shriekfest, shrieking sixties, shriekling, shrieky

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