screamer

plural screamers

1. One who screams; one who shouts; one who sings harshly.

   He stood almost appalled for a moment, as he said to himself that she would take her up and the girl would be ruined, would force her note and become a screamer.

   1885–1886, Henry James, chapter IX, in The Bostonians […], London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 16 February 1886, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   'Don't be frightened, mistress,' said Quilp, after a pause. 'Your son knows me; I don't eat babies; I don't like 'em. It will be as well to stop that young screamer though, in case I should be tempted to do him a mischief. Holloa, sir! Will you be quiet?'

   1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the Twenty-first”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC

   In my opinion, Sarah was a total screamer. […] She screams in BRAIN OF MORIBUS, PYRAMIDS OF MARS, PLANET OF EVIL, REVENGE OF CYBERMEN, GENESIS OF DALEKS, SEEDS OF DOOM, ARK IN SPACE, etc, etc. In just about all her stories. When she is not screaming she is yelping, "Run Doctor RUNNNNNN!"

   1999 June 27, J2rider, “Favourite companions to hate or love”, in rec.arts.drwho (Usenet)

2. Any bird in the taxonomic family Anhimidae, endemic to South America, being large, bulky birds with a small downy head, long legs and large feet.
3. USobsoletehobbiesA healthy, vigorous animal.

   I had seen the track of the bear they were after, and I knowed he was a screamer.

   1917, David Crockett, “The Bear Hunt”, in Maurice Garland Fulton, editor, Southern Life in Southern Literature

4. A healthy, vigorous person.
5. Something exceptionally good.

   1 more example

   "[…]I do not judge hastily, Alec, for I have read a dozen, at least, of these stories, and, with much that is attractive to boys, I find a great deal to condemn in them, and other parents say the same when I ask them." "Now, Mum, that's too bad! I like 'em tip-top. This one is a regular screamer," cried Will.

   1875, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 17, in Eight Cousins

6. ball gamesA difficult catch.

   But then he came around the wicket again, I slashed at one, and Strauss, at full stretch diving to his left at second slip, took an absolute screamer. It was the catch of the summer, and it happened to me.

   2010, Adam Gilchrist, True Colours

7. ball gamesA very hard hit.

   His screamer into the right field bleachers in the sixth with Scarborough and Viau on base put Hickory out in front 9 to 8 and the lead held for the rest of the game.

   2006, R. G. Utley, Tim Peeler, Aaron Peeler, Outlaw Ballplayers: interviews and profiles from the Independent Carolina Baseball League

8. Australian rules footballhobbiesA particularly high mark (clean catch of a kicked ball).

   Virtually every other facet of the game is shared by other sports, but the sight of a player taking a fingertip ‘screamer’ whilst perched on the shoulders of an opponent is unique to footy, and players who perfect this ability are among the code’s most celebrated and well remembered.

   2008, John Devaney, Full Points Footy's WA Football Companion

9. ball gamesA powerful shot.

   Kasper Schmeichel brilliantly denied Marouane Chamakh before Bacary Sagna thumped home a second, though Bradley Johnson's screamer halved the deficit.

   2011 January 19, Jonathan Stevenson, “Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal”, in BBC

10. hobbiesA very large wave.

    That set the pattern for us both. Catch a screamer, work it hard for as long as you could, then drop back over the shoulder and paddle back out to the line-up.

    2010, Peter Klein, Silk Chaser

11. entertainmentA march played at a circus to enliven the crowd.
12. InternetA video that unexpectedly frightens the viewer by cutting to a loud scream and disturbing image.

    The Web is also big business; who needs a real job when you can just send Grandma a screamer and—POOF!—there's your inheritance.

    2008, Nadia Giosia, Bitchin' Kitchen Cookbook

13. slangAn effeminate gay man; a man who is obviously homosexual.

    Well, this friend was a real effeminate person—[he] was just a screamer. […] Well even my brother was smart enough to realize they were gay.

    1989, Joseph P. Goodwin, More Man Than You’ll Ever Be: Gay Folklore and Acculturation in Middle America, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 43

    2 more examples

    So when George Michael sings in his latest hit, “Girl, you're just too funky for me,” is he really singing about a woman? Or is he just being a total screamer and gender-fucking his male love object?

    1992, The Advocate, numbers 607-610, page 315

    I thought Jeff was a screamer. I am still wondering about Alicia. She hangs with Jeff. But I shouldn't assume someone is lesbian by the company they keep.

    2001 May 5, cJ, “Studly buff gay guy?”, in alt.tv.survivor (Usenet)

14. USdatedslangA bouncer.
15. slangjournalismAn exclamation mark.
16. slangjournalismA large, attention-getting headline.

    Hartley's argument usefully reminds us that the spread of celebrity is not just the consequence of an accumulation of publicity handouts, advertisements, chat show interviews, or the shock-horror revelations in the tabloid screamers.

    2004, Graeme Turner, Understanding Celebrity, page 17

17. A person who is extremely loud and boisterous during sexual intercourse.

    I could tell in advance if they were screamers, or leatherettes, or buggers, or great head-givers, or into toys and ticklers – I had it down to an art.

    2005, Tom Horn, chapter 2, in The Devil and George Bailey, [s.l.]: RSE, published 2011, →ISBN, part III (Fire), page 827