bawl

English

Etymology

A drill instructor bawls at an officer candidate

From Middle English baulen, from Old Norse baula (“to bellow”) 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

• enPR: bôl
• (UK)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɔːl/
  • (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /boːl/
  • (Scotland) IPA^(key): /bɔl/
  • (Northumbria) IPA^(key): /baːl/
• (General American)
  • (without the cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /bɔl/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /bɑl/

    • Audio (US):

      (file)

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /boːl/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• Homophones: ball; (cot–caught merger, father-bother merger) Basle
• 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

   • 1900, T. Jenkins Hains, Mr. Trunnell, Mate of the Ship "Pirate"‎^[1]:

     He jumped upon the saddle with another yell as he pushed the machine before him, and the next instant was whirling down the thoroughfare with the rapidity of an express train, bawling for people to "Stand clear!"

   • 1902, Robert W. Chambers, The Maid-at-Arms‎^[2]:

     "I'm lord of this manor!" he bawled. "I'm Patroon Varick, and I'll do as I please!"

   • 1930, Dashiell Hammet, The Maltese Falcon, New York, N.Y.; London: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC, page 140:

     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. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, page 80:

     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 off
• 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)
• Irish: scread
• Italian: gridare (it), urlare (it)
• Latin: obvāgiō
• Māori: hāparangi, whakapakari, pararē, whakapakari, tīwaha
• Russian: ора́ть (ru) (orátʹ), крича́ть (ru) (kričátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: vikati (sh)
• Spanish: gritar (es), gritonear (es)
• Swedish: ryta (sv), vråla (sv), gorma (sv), gasta (sv)
• Turkish: bağırmak (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: چاغرمق (çağırmak)

• Ukrainian: волати (volaty), кричати (kryčaty)

to wail; to give out a blaring cry — see also wail

• Finnish: ulvoa (fi)
• French: hurler (fr)
• German: heulen (de), brüllen (de)
• Irish: scread
• Māori: whakapakari, auē
• Russian: реве́ть (ru) (revétʹ), вопи́ть (ru) (vopítʹ)
• Spanish: plañir (es), llantear (disused)
• Turkish: ağlamak (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: چاغرمق (çağırmak), اوكورمك (öğürmek)

• Ukrainian: горлати (horlaty), галасувати (halasuvaty)

to weep profusely — see also weep,‎ sob

• Finnish: pillittää (fi)
• Spanish: plañir (es), llantear (disused)
• 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)
• Woiwurrung: ^{(please verify)} marr-roong

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

• Catalan: baladreig (ca) m
• Czech: řev (cs) m, křik (cs) m
• Finnish: karjunta (fi)
• German: Grölen n
• Māori: pararētanga
• Spanish: alarido (es) m, grito (es) m

Anagrams

• ALBW, LBWA

Jamaican Creole

Verb

bawl

1. to shed tears; to weep
2. to complain
3. to negotiate (often a price)

   bawl dung

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 2024, Busy Signal, “#Ofcourse”:

     I am a Jamaican / Of course, If yuh eva tell mi di cost / Mi a guh bawl dung e price

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Zou

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bɔ̄l]
• Hyphenation: bawl

Verb

bawl (stem II bàwl)

1. do
2. make
3. work

References

• Philip Thangliènmâng (2010), Minimal dictionary and Self-tutor Functional Grammar in Zo-English-Hindi, New Delhi: Zoculsin, →ISBN, page 81
• Lukram Himmat Singh (2013), A Descriptive Grammar of Zou (PhD thesis), Canchipur: Manipur University, page 183