Link Centre Dictionary

shriek

UK/ʃɹiːk/ US/ˈʃrik/ uncommon slang uk
noun (2) verb (1)

noun

1.

sharp piercing cry

  • “her screaming attracted the neighbors”
Synonyms
2.

a high-pitched noise resembling a human cry

  • “he ducked at the screechings of shells”
  • “he heard the scream of the brakes”
Synonyms

verb

1.

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • shriek owl
  • shrieking sixties

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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.