Library / English Dictionary

HOWL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A long loud emotional utterance

Example:

their howling had no effect

Synonyms:

howl; howling; ululation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("howl" is a kind of...):

utterance; vocalization (the use of uttered sounds for auditory communication)

Derivation:

howl (laugh unrestrainedly and heartily)

howl (emit long loud cries)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A loud sustained noise resembling the cry of a hound

Example:

the howl of the wind made him restless

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("howl" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "howl"):

squeal (a high-pitched howl)

Derivation:

howl (make a loud noise, as of wind, water, or vehicles)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The long plaintive cry of a hound or a wolf

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("howl" is a kind of...):

cry (the characteristic utterance of an animal)

Derivation:

howl (cry loudly, as of animals)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Laugh unrestrainedly and heartily

Synonyms:

howl; roar

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "howl" is one way to...):

express joy; express mirth; laugh (produce laughter)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

howl (a long loud emotional utterance)

howler (a joke that seems extremely funny)

howling (a long loud emotional utterance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make a loud noise, as of wind, water, or vehicles

Example:

The water roared down the chute

Synonyms:

howl; roar

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "howl" is one way to...):

make noise; noise; resound (emit a noise)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "howl"):

vroom (make a loud, roaring sound, as of a car engine, while moving)

bawl; yawp (make a raucous noise)

thunder (to make or produce a loud noise)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

The cars howl down the avenue

Derivation:

howl (a loud sustained noise resembling the cry of a hound)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Emit long loud cries

Example:

howl with sorrow

Synonyms:

howl; roar; ululate; wail; yaup; yawl

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "howl" is one way to...):

call; cry; holler; hollo; scream; shout; shout out; squall; yell (utter a sudden loud cry)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "howl"):

squall; waul; wawl (make high-pitched, whiney noises)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

howl; howling (a long loud emotional utterance)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cry loudly, as of animals

Example:

The coyotes were howling in the desert

Synonyms:

howl; wrawl; yammer; yowl

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "howl" is one way to...):

emit; let loose; let out; utter (express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words))

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sentence examples:

You can hear animals howl in the meadows

The meadows howl with animals

Derivation:

howl (the long plaintive cry of a hound or a wolf)

howler (monkey of tropical South American forests having a loud howling cry)

Credits

 Context examples: 

It would make them sometimes hug, and sometimes tear one another; they would howl, and grin, and chatter, and reel, and tumble, and then fall asleep in the mud.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The wind was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing against the windows.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The wretch saw me destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for happiness, and with a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdrew.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Next he attempted the tiny front porch, until a howling southeaster drenched the wheel a night-long.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

This new order of things disgusted him, and he howled dismally for 'Marmar', as his angry passions subsided, and recollections of his tender bondwoman returned to the captive autocrat.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He would sometimes think he had got the better of his objection, and be amiable for a few minutes; and then would put up his snub nose, and howl to that extent, that there was nothing for it but to blind him and put him in the plate-warmer.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

No; it was St. John Rivers, who, lifting the latch, came in out of the frozen hurricane—the howling darkness—and stood before me: the cloak that covered his tall figure all white as a glacier.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Peering into the heart of the Milky Way galaxy, NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) has spotted a mysterious glow of high-energy X-rays that, according to scientists, could be the howls of dead stars as they feed on stellar companions.

(NASA's NuSTAR Captures Possible 'Screams' from Zombie Stars, NASA)

It was only yesterday that we had an infernal Dutchman here howling about some arrears of interest and the deuce knows what. ‘My good fellow,’ said I, ‘as long as the Commons starve me, I have to starve you,’ and so the matter ended.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then he sat down, pointed his nose upward, and howled.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)