Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.
  • noun Informal A brief commotion.
  • intransitive verb To blow strongly for a brief period.
  • noun A loud, harsh cry.
  • intransitive verb To scream or cry loudly and harshly.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To blow a squall: used chieflyimpersonally: as, itsqualled terribly.
  • noun A sudden and violent gust of wind, or a succession of such gusts, usually accompanied by rain, snow, or sleet. In a ship's log-book abbreviated q.
  • noun Synonyms Gale, etc. See wind.
  • noun A baby; pet; minx; girl: used vaguely, in endearment or reproach.
  • To cry out; scream or cry violently, as a frightened woman or a child in anger or distress: used in contempt or dislike.
  • To utter in a discordant, screaming tone.
  • noun A harsh cry; a loud and discordant scream; a sound intermediate in character between a squawk and a squeal.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A loud scream; a harsh cry.
  • intransitive verb To cry out; to scream or cry violently, as a woman frightened, or a child in anger or distress.
  • noun A sudden and violent gust of wind often attended with rain or snow.
  • noun a squall attended with dark, heavy clouds.
  • noun a black squall accompanied by rain, hail, sleet, or snow.
  • noun a squall which comes unexpectedly, without being marked in its approach by the clouds.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A squall line, multicell line, or part of a squall line.
  • noun A sudden storm, as found in a squall line. Often a nautical usage.
  • verb To cry or wail loudly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun sudden violent winds; often accompanied by precipitation
  • verb make high-pitched, whiney noises
  • verb blow in a squall
  • verb utter a sudden loud cry

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably of Scandinavian origin.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse skvala, to squeal.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

The verb is from Old Norse skvala ("to cry out"). The noun is probably from the verb.

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Examples

Comments

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  • she treks in blood through sun and squall

    from "The Queen's Complaint," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008