CREAK

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does creak mean? 

• CREAK (noun)
  The noun CREAK has 1 sense:

1. a squeaking sound

  Familiarity information: CREAK used as a noun is very rare.

• CREAK (verb)
  The verb CREAK has 1 sense:

1. make a high-pitched, screeching noise

  Familiarity information: CREAK used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CREAK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A squeaking sound

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

creak; creaking

Context example:

the creak of the floorboards gave him away

Hypernyms ("creak" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Derivation:

creak (make a high-pitched, screeching noise)

creaky (having a rasping or grating sound)

• CREAK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they creak    ... he / she / it creaks   
Past simple: creaked   
Past participle: creaked   
-ing form: creaking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a high-pitched, screeching noise

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

creak; screak; screech; skreak; squeak; whine

Context example:

My car engine makes a whining noise

Hypernyms (to "creak" is one way to...):

make noise; noise; resound (emit a noise)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

The doors creak

Derivation:

creak; creaking (a squeaking sound)

 Context examples 

I can hear men's voices calling, near and far, and the roll and creak of oars in the rowlocks.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Then I heard a gentle creaking as the window was very slowly opened.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was strange to mark the hush; so that the lapping of the water, the straining of the sail, and the creaking of the timbers grew louder of a sudden upon the ear.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This time his skill was greater or his tool was better, for there was a sudden snap and the creak of the hinges.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have been deceived.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In a few minutes after, I heard the creaking of my door, as if some one endeavoured to open it softly.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

"This is indeed curious," said the creaking voice of Professor Summerlee.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My window chanced to be open, for it was a fresh spring night, and I heard the creak of the inn door, and a voice asking whether Sir Lothian Hume was within.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A tread creaked on the stairs at last.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The steps fell lightly and oddly, with a certain swing, for all they went so slowly; it was different indeed from the heavy creaking tread of Henry Jekyll.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)