/ɡɹaʊl/, /ɡɹaʊl/
OriginFrom Middle English groulen, grollen, gurlen (“of the bowels: to growl, rumble”), either possibly from Old French groler (variant of croler (“to be agitated, shake”)), grouler, grouller (“to growl, grumble”), from Frankish *grullen, *gruljan or from Old English gryllan, both from Proto-Germanic *gruljaną (“to make a sound; to growl, grumble, rumble”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to make a noise; to mumble, murmur; to rattle; to grind; to rub, stroke”), probably ultimately imitative. The word is cognate with Middle Dutch grollen (“to make a noise; to croak, grumble, murmur; to be angry”) (modern Dutch grollen (“to grumble”)), German grollen (“to rumble; to be angry, bear ill will”), Old English grillan, griellan (“to provoke, offend; to gnash the teeth”). Compare grill.
The noun is derived from the verb.
- A deep, rumbling, threatening sound made in the throat by an animal.
“Hardly anything is more intensely disagreeable to one walking along the street, than to hear near his path a low savage growl—the expression of a surly dog's opinion and purpose.”
“A deep growl was the answer I received, and the bear, for such it was, walked quickly away in the same direction whence he had come.”
- broadlyA similar sound made by a human.
- broadlyThe rumbling sound made by a human's hungry stomach.
“Riding down the main thoroughfare, the growl of his stomach taints the soothing jazz playing on the radio.”
- broadlyAn aggressive grumbling.
“The clerk promised that he would; and Scrooge walked out with a growl. The office was closed in a twinkling, and the clerk, with the long ends of his white comforter dangling below his waist (for he b”
“The Welsh farmer, strong, broad-shouldered and blue-eyed, acknowledged Willie's presence by an unintelligible ejaculation which sounded very much like a growl, and with not very cheerful hospitality p”
“One of the shows we saw was Captain Beefheart at the Finsbury Park Astoria, now the Rainbow Theatre. It was one of my all-time favorite shows, the Captain an outrageous character who defied all bounds”
- broadlyA low-pitched rumbling sound produced with a wind instrument.
“The growl effect comes from fitting a small straight mute—a cornet mute for trumpet and a trumpet mute for trombone—covering the instrument's bell with a rubber plunger, the kind used by plumbers, and”
“Just as [Duke] Ellington the composer was not the originator of the growls, moans, and other expressive devices that jazz musicians developed from European instruments, neither was he the particular t”
- broadlyDeath growl
- intransitiveTo utter a deep guttural sound, as an angry animal; to give forth an angry, grumbling sound.
“The dog growled at me as I walked past.”
“[T]here are Wolf-Whelps in Palaces, and Governments, as well as in Cottages, and Forreſts. […] They go out however, as there is Occaſion, and Hunt and Growle for Company; but at the ſame time, they gi”
“Let bears and lions growl and fight, / Let bears and lions growl and fight, / For 'tis their nature too, / For 'tis their nature too.”
- intransitiveOf a wind instrument: to produce a low-pitched rumbling sound.
“And he is bending in the wind, scooping pitch, growling. […] He plays his false fingers. Chokes the trumpet. He is naked. This is naked jazz. O-bop-she-bam. Never lying. Telling it like it is.”
“James "Bubber" Miley "used to growl all night long, playing gutbucket on his horn. That was when we decided to forget all about the sweet music."”
- intransitiveTo send a user a message via the Growl software library.
- transitiveTo express (something) by growling.
“The old man growled his displeasure at the postman.”
“Bastane, as he entered, growled an invective, while he sullenly expressed his discontent at an unexpected call and additional labour.”
- transitiveTo play a wind instrument in a way that produces a low-pitched rumbling sound.
“[…] John Gilmore would take up his tenor and growl a keening march, Danny Thompson stab and worry with a flute, Sun Ra leave his big conga and mount the temple of keyboards for a ritual parenthesis of”
- intransitiveTo perform death growl vocals.
Formsgrowls(plural) · growls(present, singular, third-person) · growling(participle, present) · growled(participle, past) · growled(past) · groil(alternative) · groul(alternative)