From obsolete shrick (1567), shreke, variants of earlier screak, skricke (before 1500), from Middle English scrycke, from a North Germanic/Scandinavian language (compare Swedish skrika, Danish skrige, Icelandic skríkja), from Proto-Germanic *skrīkijaną, *skrik- (compare English screech). More at screech.
Meanings
A sharp, shrill outcry or scream; a shrill wild cry caused by sudden or extreme terror, pain, or the like.
Shrieks, clamours, murmurs, fill the frighted town. 1697, Virgil, “The Seventh Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
Sabor, the lioness, was a wise hunter. To one less wise the wild alarm of her fierce cry as she sprang would have seemed a foolish thing, for could she not more surely have fallen upon her victims had she but quietly leaped without that loud shriek? 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC:
uk виск (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ru визг (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · he צווחה (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · pl krzyk (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ga scread (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · arz صريخ (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · eo ŝriko (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · bg писък (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ar زَعَقَ (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · mi tioro (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ur چیخ (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · fi rääkäisy (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · gd sgal (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · es alarido (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ko 비명 (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · es chillido (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ru пронзительный крик (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ga scréach (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ja 悲鳴 (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · cs vřískot (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ty taʻi (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · da skrig (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · hu ordít (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · cs jekot (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · pt guincho (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · fi kirkaisu (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · mi ngoe (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · sa क्रोश (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · el οξεία κραυγή (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · cs zaječení (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · hu rikácsol (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · cmn 尖叫聲 /尖叫声 (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · cs ječení (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · nl krijsen (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · uk ве́реск (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ro țipăt (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · de Kreischen (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · mi ngoengoe (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ro strigăt (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · fr hurlement (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · fa جیغ (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ro urlet (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · ota صراخ (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · bg крясък (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream) · mr किंकाळी (a sharp, shrill outcry or scream)
From obsolete shrick (1567), shreke, variants of earlier screak, skricke (before 1500), from Middle English scrycke, from a North Germanic/Scandinavian language (compare Swedish skrika, Danish skrige, Icelandic skríkja), from Proto-Germanic *skrīkijaną, *skrik- (compare English screech). More at screech.
Meanings
(intransitive) To utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry, as do some birds and beasts; to scream, as in a sudden fright, in horror or anguish.
In winter the place was deserted and, with cold damp wind from the sea shrieking in the telegraph wires, the general feeling could be one of desolation. 1954 March, W. A. Tuplin, “Recollections of the Wirral Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 169:
It was the owl that shrieked. c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
At this she shriek'd aloud; the mournful train / Echoed her grief. 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
Feebly ſhe ſhriekt, but ſo feebly indeed / That Britomart heard not the ſhrilling ſound. 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 95:
"[O]h, yes! the loon does shriek dreadfully - particularly when there's fine rain[.]" 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 286:
(transitive) To utter sharply and shrilly; to utter in or with a shriek or shrieks.
She shrieked his name to the dark woods. 1817, Thomas Moore, Lalla Rookh […] , London: Longman […] :
The ghostly owl, shrieking his baleful note. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 33:
pt guinchar (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · vi rít (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · grc ἰύζω (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · fi kirkaista (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · bg пищя (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · cs zaječet (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · la quirītō (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · es chillar (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · mi ngoe (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · de kreischen (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · ro striga (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · mr किंकाळी मारणे (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · grc κωκύω (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · ga scread (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · cs zakřičet (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · ro țipa (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · cs křičet (to utter sharply and shrilly) · uk вереща́ти (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · cs vřískat (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · mr किंकाळी फोडाणे (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · cs ječet (to utter sharply and shrilly) · pl krzyknąć (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · el τσιρίζω (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · cs zaječet (to utter sharply and shrilly) · bg крещя (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · da skrige (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · uk вища́ти (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · el κραυγάζω οξέως (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · ru визжа́ть (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · fr crier (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · pl krzyczeć (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · de kreischen (to utter sharply and shrilly) · fi rääkäistä (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · el στριγκλίζω (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · mi tioro (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · la strīdō (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · mi ngoengoe (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · ar صَرَخَ (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · ro urla (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · el σκούζω (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · fa جیغ زدن (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · cs zakřičet (to utter sharply and shrilly) · cs křičet (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · eo kriaĉi (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · fa جیغ زدن (to utter sharply and shrilly) · cs ječet (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · cs zavřískat (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · gd sgal (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · nl krijsen (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry) · ur چیخنا (to utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry)