Link Centre Dictionary

howl

UK/ˈhaːl/ US/ˈhaʊ̯l/ fairly common
noun (3) verb (4)

noun

1.

a long loud emotional utterance

  • “he gave a howl of pain”
  • “howls of laughter”
  • “their howling had no effect”
Synonyms
2.

the long plaintive cry of a hound or a wolf

3.

a loud sustained noise resembling the cry of a hound

  • “the howl of the wind made him restless”

verb

1.

emit long loud cries

  • “wail in self-pity”
  • “howl with sorrow”
Synonyms
2.

cry loudly, as of animals

  • “The coyotes were howling in the desert”
Synonyms
3.

make a loud noise, as of wind, water, or vehicles

  • “The wind was howling in the trees”
  • “The water roared down the chute”
Synonyms
4.

Origin

From Middle English howlen, houlen, from Old English *hūlian, from Proto-West Germanic *hūilōn, from Proto-Germanic *hūwilōną, *hiuwilōną (“to howl”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kū-, *kew- (“to howl, scream”). Likely of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian huulje (“to howl”), Dutch huilen (“to cry”), Romanian a hăuli (“to howl”), Old French ouler, German Low German hulen (“to howl”), German heulen (“to howl”), Danish hyle (“to howl”), Swedish yla (“to scream, yell”), Northern Luri آلٛیر (āłir, “howl”).

Phrases

  • go howl at the moon
  • howl at the moon
  • howl down
  • howl on
  • howl out
  • howling jackass
  • Irish howl
  • who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl

Related words

Word family

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.