Meanings
plural yowls
- A prolonged, loud cry, like the sound of an animal; a wail; a howl.
1 more example
“Before he was a twel’month ould he had a mouth full o’ great teeth; his hands wor like ’s claws, and his legs wor no thicker nor the handle of a whip, and about as straight as a rapin’ hook; to make the matther worse, he had the gut uv a cormorant, and the whinge, and the yelp, and the screech, and the yowl, was never out of his mouth.”
1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 522
present singular third person yowls · participle present yowling · participle past yowled · past yowled
- intransitiveTo utter a yowl.
- transitiveTo express by yowling; to utter with a yowl.
Hailstar stepped from the ranks of RiverClan, his pelt like fire in the dying sun. "An ancient wrong has been put right!" he yowled. "These rocks are ours again!"
2009, Erin Hunter [pseudonym; Erin Hunter Team], Warriors Super Edition: Bluestar's Prophecy, page 185
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna very loud utterance (like the sound of an animal)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Norsegaula“to low, bellow, howl, scream”
- Middle Englishyoulen
- Englishyowl
From Middle English youlen, goulen, from Old Norse gaula (“to low, bellow, howl, scream”), related to Icelandic gaula (“to yell, howl, roar”), Faroese geyla (“to bawl, squall, shout, yell, bellow”), Norwegian gaule (“to roar, howl, whine, weep noisily”), dialectal Swedish gjöla, Scots gowl (“to howl, yell, roar”), Shetlandic Scots gjol. Initial y- possibly influenced by Middle English yollen, yellen (“to yell”).
More words from Middle English, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian вой, писък
- вой (voj)loud cry
- писък (pisăk)loud cry
- вия (vija)utter a yowl
- пищя (pištja)utter a yowl
Czech skučení, ječení
- skučeníloud cry
- ječeníloud cry
- vytíloud cry
- zakňučetutter a yowl
- kňučetutter a yowl
- zaskučetutter a yowl
- skučetutter a yowl
- ječetutter a yowl
- výtutter a yowl
Dutch jank, gejank
- jankloud cry
- gejankloud cry
- jankenutter a yowl
German jaulen
- jaulenutter a yowl
Irish uaill
- uaillloud cry
Spanish aullido, aullar
- aullidoloud cry
- aullarutter a yowl
Swedish tjuta, yla
- tjutautter a yowl
- ylautter a yowl
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with yowl
Anagrams
Cite this entry
yowl. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yowl
“yowl.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yowl. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yowl,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yowl.
Source: yowl on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.