bawl

English

Etymology

A drill instructor bawls at an officer candidate

From Middle English baulen, from Old Norse baula (“to low”) and/or Medieval Latin baulō (“to bark”), both from Proto-Germanic *bau- (“to roar”), conflated with Proto-Germanic *bellaną, *ballijaną, *buljaną (“to shout, low, roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to sound, roar”). Cognate with Faroese belja (“to low”), 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/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: ball
• Rhymes: -ɔːl

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.

   commanders bawling

   • 1929, Dashiel Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, New Yock: Vintage Books (Random House, published 1992, →ISBN, page 117:

     Spade took two long steps and caught Effie Perine by the shoulders. "She didn't get there?" he bawled into her frightened face

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

   Coordinate terms: (cattle sense) croon, bellow, low, moo

   children bawling

   cattle bawling

   • 1859, George Meredith, chapter 5, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:

     Why did you bawl out just as I was aiming? Who can aim with a fellow bawling in his ear? I've lost the birds through it.

3. (intransitive) To weep profusely.

   children bawling

   mourners bawling

Derived terms

• bawl-baby
• bawler
• bawl one's eyes out
• bawl out
• outbawl

 

Translations

to shout or utter in a loud and intense manner

• Czech: řvát (cs) impf, křičet (cs) impf
• Dutch: schreeuwen (nl)
• Finnish: huutaa (fi), karjua (fi)
• French: hurler (fr)
• German: schreien (de), brüllen (de), grölen (de)
• Italian: gridare (it), urlare (it)
• Latin: obvāgiō
• Maori: hāparangi, whakapakari, pararē, whakapakari, tīwaha
• Russian: ора́ть (ru) (orátʹ), крича́ть (ru) (kričátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: vikati (sh)
• Spanish: gritar (es)
• Swedish: vråla (sv), gorma (sv)
• Turkish: bağırmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: волати (volaty), кричати (kryčaty)

to wail; to give out a blaring cry

• Finnish: ulvoa (fi)
• French: hurler (fr)
• German: heulen (de), brüllen (de)
• Maori: whakapakari, auē
• Russian: реве́ть (ru) (revétʹ), вопи́ть (ru) (vopítʹ)
• Turkish: ağlamak (tr)
• Ukrainian: горлати (horlaty), галасувати (halasuvaty)

to weep profusely

• Finnish: pillittää (fi)
• Ukrainian: ревіти (revity)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. 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

• Czech: řev (cs) m, křik (cs) m
• Finnish: karjunta (fi)
• Maori: pararētanga
• Spanish: alarido (es) m, grito (es) m

Anagrams

• ALBW, LBWA

Zou

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔl˧/

Adjective

bawl

1. blunt

References

• Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 41