bawl

present singular third person bawls · participle present bawling · participle past bawled · past bawled

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

   commanders bawling

   3 more examples

   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!"

   1900, T. Jenkins Hains, Mr. Trunnell, Mate of the Ship "Pirate"

   "I'm lord of this manor!" he bawled. "I'm Patroon Varick, and I'll do as I please!"

   1902, Robert W. Chambers, The Maid-at-Arms

   Spade took two long steps and caught Effie Perine by the shoulders. "She didn't get there?" he bawled into her frightened face

   1930, Dashiell Hammet, The Maltese Falcon, New York, N.Y.; London: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC, page 140

2. intransitiveTo wail; to give out a blaring cry.

   cattle bawling

   3 more examples

   children bawling

   Sow ran and squall'd, While Jack he bawl'd, And Jill join'd in the choir, Dog Ball being near, Bit sow by the ear, And threw Jack into the mire.

   1810, Jack and Jill, and old Dame Gill, York: J. Kendrew, page 12

   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.

   1859, George Meredith, chapter 5, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, page 80

3. intransitiveTo weep profusely.

   children bawling

   1 more example

   mourners bawling

plural bawls

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.

   1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard