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bawl

verb
/bɔːɫ/UK/baːl//bɔl/US

Etymology

From Middle English baulen, from Old Norse baula (“to bellow”) and/or Medieval Latin baulō (“to bark”), both from Proto-Germanic *bau- (“to roar”), conflated with Proto-Germanic *bellaną, *ballijaną, *buljaną (“to shout, low, roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to sound, roar”). Cognate with Faroese belja (“to low”), Icelandic baula (“to moo, low”), Swedish böla (“to bellow, low”). More at bell.

  1. derived from *bau-✻
  2. derived from baulō
  3. derived from baula
  4. inherited from baulen

Definitions

  1. To shout or utter in a loud and intense manner.

    • commanders bawling
    • He jumped upon the saddle with another yell as he pushed the machine before him, and the next instant was whirling down the thoroughfare with the rapidity of an express train, bawling for people to "Stand clear!"
    • "I'm lord of this manor!" he bawled. "I'm Patroon Varick, and I'll do as I please!"

  2. To wail

    To wail; to give out a blaring cry.

    • children bawling
    • cattle bawling
    • Why did you bawl out just as I was aiming? Who can aim with a fellow bawling in his ear? I've lost the birds through it.

  3. To weep profusely.

    • children bawling
    • mourners bawling
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. A loud, intense shouting or wailing.

      • […] that clear soprano, in nursery, rings out a shower of innocent idiotisms over the half-stripped baby, and suspends the bawl upon its lips.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for bawl. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA