bawl

English

Etymology

From Middle English bawlen, from Old Norse baula (“to low”) and/or Medieval Latin baulō (“to bark”), both from Proto-Germanic *bau- (“to roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *bau- (“to bark”), conflated with Proto-Germanic *bellaną, *ballijaną, *buljaną (“to shout, low, roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to sound, roar”). Cognate with Icelandic baula (“to moo, low”), Swedish böla (“to bellow, low”). More at bell.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): [bɔːɫ]
• (US) IPA^(key): /bɔl/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /bɑl/
• Rhymes: -ɔːl
• Homophone: ball

Verb

bawl (third-person singular simple present bawls, present participle bawling, simple past and past participle bawled)

1. (transitive) To shout or utter in a loud and intense manner.
2. (intransitive) To wail; to give out a blaring cry.

Derived terms

• bawler

Translations

(intransitive) To shout or utter in a loud and intense manner

• Finnish: huutaa (fi)
• French: hurler (fr)
• German: schreien (de)
• Interlingue: criachar, crialliar
• Italian: gridare (it), urlare (it)
• Maori: hāparangi, whakapakari, pararē, whakapakari

• Russian: ора́ть (ru) (orátʹ), крича́ть (ru) (kričátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: vikati (sh)
• Spanish: gritar (es)
• Turkish: bağırmak (tr)

(intransitive) To wail; to give out a blaring cry

• Finnish: ulvoa (fi)
• French: hurler (fr)
• German: heulen (de)

• Russian: реве́ть (ru) (revétʹ), вопи́ть (ru) (vopítʹ)
• Turkish: ağlamak (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} викам (bg) (vikam), ^{(please verify)} крещя (bg) (kreštja), ^{(please verify)} рева (bg) (reva)
• Norman: ^{(please verify)} brailli (Jersey)

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} derati se (sh)

Noun

bawl (plural bawls)

1. A loud, intense shouting or wailing.
   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

     […] that clear soprano, in nursery, rings out a shower of innocent idiotisms over the half-stripped baby, and suspends the bawl upon its lips.

Translations

a loud, intense shouting or wailing

• Maori: pararētanga
• Spanish: alarido (es) m, grito (es) m

Anagrams

• LBWA