Dictionary

screech en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• [skɹit͡ʃ] (US)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /skɹiːt͡ʃ/
• [skɹiːt͡ʃ] (UK)
• skrēch

Etymology

1602; altered with expressive vowel lengthening from earlier skrech (1577), variant of obsolete scritch, from Middle English skriken, shrichen, schrichen (1250), from Old English (attested as scriccettan) and Old Norse skríkja, both from Proto-Germanic *skrīkijaną (compare Icelandic skríkja, Old Saxon scricōn, Danish skrige, Swedish skrika), derivative of *skrīhaną (compare Middle Dutch schriën, German schreien, Low German dial. schrien, schriegen), ultimately of imitative origin.

Meanings

1. (countable) A high-pitched strident or piercing sound, such as that between a moving object and any surface.
2. (countable) A harsh, shrill cry, as of one in acute pain or in fright; a shriek; a scream.
   • “Before he was a twel’month ould he had a mouth full o’ great teeth; his hands wor like ’s claws, and his legs wor no thicker nor the handle of a whip, and about as straight as a rapin’ hook; to make the matther worse, he had the gut uv a cormorant, and the whinge, and the yelp, and the screech, and the yowl, was never out of his mouth.” 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 522:
3. (Newfoundland, uncountable) Newfoundland rum.
4. (uncountable) A form of home-made rye whiskey made from used oak rye barrels from a distillery.

Forms

Deriveds

screech-in · screech thrush · screecher · screech hawk · screech owl · screech bird · screech tunnel · screech martin

Synonyms

screak

Translations (32)

fi rääkäisy (loud harsh sound) · ru скрип (loud harsh sound) · ru визг (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · pt chiado (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · de Quietschen (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · ru скре́жет (loud harsh sound) · cs skřípění (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · fa جیغ (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · eo kriaĉo (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · de Kreischen (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · fi kirskahdus (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · es chirrido (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · fi kirskunta (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · el στρίγκλισμα (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · eo kriĉo (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · fa نوعی ویسکی خانگی (form of home-made rye whiskey) · de Kreischen (loud harsh sound) · gd sgreuch (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · fr crissement (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · fi kirskuna (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · bg писък (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · cs jekot (loud harsh sound) · mi ngē (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · fa صدای غیژغیژ (loud harsh sound) · bg крясък (loud harsh sound) · cs vřískot (loud harsh sound) · cs zaskřípění (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · ca grinyol (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · de Aufschreien (loud harsh sound) · ga scread (high-pitched strident or piercing sound) · gd sgreuch (loud harsh sound) · ga scréach (high-pitched strident or piercing sound)

screech en · VERB

Pronunciation

• [skɹit͡ʃ] (US)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /skɹiːt͡ʃ/
• [skɹiːt͡ʃ] (UK)
• skrēch

Etymology

1602; altered with expressive vowel lengthening from earlier skrech (1577), variant of obsolete scritch, from Middle English skriken, shrichen, schrichen (1250), from Old English (attested as scriccettan) and Old Norse skríkja, both from Proto-Germanic *skrīkijaną (compare Icelandic skríkja, Old Saxon scricōn, Danish skrige, Swedish skrika), derivative of *skrīhaną (compare Middle Dutch schriën, German schreien, Low German dial. schrien, schriegen), ultimately of imitative origin.

Meanings

1. To make such a sound.
   • "Have you not met them?" "No, I have met nothing but three cormorants, which were sitting on a bit of drift-wood screeching." 1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 48:
   • They said he had caused the fire in some way; be that as it may, he was screeching most horribly. 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 213:
   • The tide was out, and we drew up amid the strong bracing smell of seaweed, with gulls screeching, wheeling around, and gliding on the wind. 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 8:
   • AS THE residents of the quiet Midlothian housing estate prepared for the day ahead, the early-morning stillness was disturbed by the sound of screeching brakes and slamming doors. 2004 April 15, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, in The Scotsman:
   • That the night owl should screech before the noonday sun, that the bat should wheel around the bad of beauty […] 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter VI, in The Last Man. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
2. (figuratively, intransitive) To travel very fast, as if making the sound of a car that is driving too fast.
   • You've got to admire their balls. Real Madrid screeched after them: an entire herd, powerful and co-ordinated, salivating and breathing hard, murder in their eyes. So Barcelona moved the ball on, away from them. Forced back, it was played into Víctor Valdés, the goalkeeper, who slotted it to Carles Puyol, who gave it back again. 2011 December 12, Sid Lowe, “Víctor Valdés epitomises Barcelona's bravery as Real Madrid falter”, in the Guardian:

Forms

Deriveds

Cambondo screeching frog · screech out

Translations (40)

ru вереща́ть (make a screech) · mi ngāngā (make a screech) · es estridular (make a screech) · es rechinar (make a screech) · fi rääkyä (make a screech) · eo kriaĉi (make a screech) · fi kirskua (make a screech) · gd sgreuch (make a screech) · cs pištět (make a screech) · la stridō (make a screech) · cs zaječet (make a screech) · gl cantar (an axletree) (make a screech) · cs zavřískat (make a screech) · bg пискам (make a screech) · cs vřískat (make a screech) · de quietschen (make a screech) · it stridere (make a screech) · fi rääkäistä (make a screech) · grc κρίζω (make a screech) · fr striduler (make a screech) · cs zapištět (make a screech) · ru визжа́ть (make a screech) · fi kirskahtaa (make a screech) · cs zavřeštět (make a screech) · nrf rouaûder (make a screech) · mi karehā (make a screech) · es chirriar (make a screech) · de kreischen (make a screech) · cs ječet (make a screech) · hu csikorog (make a screech) · ru скрипе́ть (make a screech) · ga scread (make a screech) · eo kriĉi (make a screech) · cmn 尖叫 (make a screech) · cs vřeštět (make a screech) · pt chiar (make a screech) · mi whakangāngā (make a screech) · mi ngē (make a screech) · bg крещя (make a screech) · mi ngoengoe (make a screech)