SHRIEKING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shrieking mean? 

• SHRIEKING (noun)
  The noun SHRIEKING has 2 senses:

1. sharp piercing cry

2. a high-pitched noise resembling a human cry

  Familiarity information: SHRIEKING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHRIEKING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sharp piercing cry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

scream; screaming; screech; screeching; shriek; shrieking

Context example:

her screaming attracted the neighbors

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

call; cry; outcry; shout; vociferation; yell (a loud utterance; often in protest or opposition)

Derivation:

shriek (utter a shrill cry)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A high-pitched noise resembling a human cry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

scream; screaming; screech; screeching; shriek; shrieking

Context example:

he heard the scream of the brakes

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

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

 Context examples 

For two days and nights this express car was dragged along at the tail of shrieking locomotives; and for two days and nights Buck neither ate nor drank.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He caught it up, devoured it with his eyes, and then danced madly about the room, pressing it to his bosom and shrieking out in his delight.

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

Old Buckhorse was skipping about on a box beside me, shrieking out criticisms and advice in strange, obsolete ring-jargon, which no one could understand.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sometimes, when a soft southland dog went down, shrieking its death-cry under the fangs of the pack, this man would be unable to contain himself, and would leap into the air and cry out with delight.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I don't care if Hugo does come at me with a pistol, returned Amy, who was not gifted with dramatic power, but was chosen because she was small enough to be borne out shrieking by the villain of the piece.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

But, ah! there is that ever shrieking brazen tongue which will not let us forget for one short hour that it is the arm of the savage, and not the hand of the master, which rules over the world.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A tangled mass of women, with drawn, white faces and open mouths, is shrieking like a chorus of lost souls; and the red-faced man, his face now purplish with wrath, and with arms extended overhead as in the act of hurling thunderbolts, is shouting, Shut up!

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

At last—I think it was on the third night—the doctor and I were strolling on the shoulder of the hill where it overlooks the lowlands of the isle, when, from out the thick darkness below, the wind brought us a noise between shrieking and singing.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

One young knight on a gray jennet leaped over his fallen comrades and galloped swiftly up the hill, shrieking loudly upon Saint James, ere he fell within a spear-length of the English line, with the feathers of arrows thrusting out from every crevice and joint of his armor.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)