Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To produce a high, shrill, wailing tone. Used of bagpipes.
- intransitive verb To play (a piece) on bagpipes.
- noun The shrill sound made by the chanter pipe of bagpipes.
- noun A shrill wailing sound.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A Scotch form of
shirl for shrill.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- verb Prov. Eng. & Scot. To utter in a shrill tone; to scream.
- noun Prov. Eng. & Scot. A shrill cry or sound.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Scotland, Northern England To make a
shrill sound, as ofbagpipes .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the sound of (the chanter of) a bagpipe
- verb make a shrill, wailing sound
- verb play the bagpipes
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The "skirl" of the nighthawk ceases; but away through the woods, down at the creek, the whippoorwill begins her oft-repeated trinity of notes.
Some Summer Days in Iowa Frederick John Lazell 1905
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After lunch Dad would gather everybody on the foredeck and we'd skirl a couple of tunes and Dad would give a little pitch.
A Beastly Pursuit, in Rhyme Ralph Gardner Jr. 2010
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He screwed the pipes and gart them skirl,Till roof and rafters a' did dirl.
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Alan Donaldson Scottish woodcock, bread sauce and woodcock giblets on toast; When you tell a resident of Edinburgh that there are three one-star Michelin restaurants in the town's old port of Leith, you are usually met with the sort of astonished look reserved for someone who claims to adore the skirl of bagpipes last thing at night, or insists that he craves the Scottish chip-shop delicacy, the battered, deep-fried Mars Bar.
From Ships to Michelin Stars Paul Levy 2010
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The skirl of “whee-eech” came more and more frequently as the dancers twirled faster and faster.
A Small Death in the Great Glen A. D. Scott 2010
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Then the sound of the fiddlers, and accordions with the skirl of the pipes worked their magic, and Rob turned back to the serious business of having a ball.
A Small Death in the Great Glen A. D. Scott 2010
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If I'd been in Scotland I would have gone up into the mountains and let the wild pipes skirl out the raw sorrow, as they always had in turbulent history.
They didn’t read Pitchfork or Stereogum or Gorilla vs. Bear or Hipster Runoff Josh Spilker 2010
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The petrels breed in tiny chinks between the stones of the broch and from its curving wall comes the sort of squeaky skirl that the stones themselves would make if they could rub together.
A Year on the Wing TIM DEE 2009
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Iffn ai neber eber gitz anoffer ded bird, skirl bebe or chippymonk awn mae bak step ai will die hapyhapyhapy!
CLUELESS - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2009
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Yu are uneek and irreplaysable and I hail yu wif a skirl of bagpipe mewsik!
Was the dog who bled all - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2009
chained_bear commented on the word skirl
I always think of the phrase "the skirling of the pipes" (as in bagpipes). They do skirl.
November 20, 2007
bilby commented on the word skirl
For some reason I'm thinking of skirt and girl and females much too young for me. Oh dear.
November 21, 2007
reesetee commented on the word skirl
No, no, bilby. Kilts, not skirts. You're in the right neighborhood, at least. ;->
November 21, 2007
yarb commented on the word skirl
To keep the situation moving he drawled teasingly, "Och, you women, you women! Born with the tongues of cats you are, every one of ye, and with the advawnce of ceevilisation ye're developing the claws! There was a fine piece in the Scotsman this morning about one of your Suffragettes standing on the roof of a town hall and behaving as a wild cat would think shame to, skirling at Mr. Asquith through a skylight and throwing slates at the polis that came to fetch her. Aw, verra nice, verra ladylike, I'm sure."
- Rebecca West, The Judge
July 29, 2009