English

Noun

shriek ‎(plural shrieks)

1. A sharp, shrill outcry or scream; a shrill wild cry such as is caused by sudden or extreme terror, pain, or the like.
   • Dryden

     Shrieks, clamours, murmurs, fill the frighted town.

   • 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5

     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?

2. (Britain) (slang) An exclamation mark.

Translations

Verb

shriek ‎(third-person singular simple present shrieks, present participle shrieking, simple past and past participle shrieked or (obsolete) shright)

1. 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.
   • Shakespeare

     It was the owl that shrieked.

   • Dryden

     At this she shrieked aloud; the mournful train / Echoed her grief.

2. To utter sharply and shrilly; to utter in or with a shriek or shrieks.
   • Spenser

     The ghostly owl, shrieking his baleful note.

   • Moore

     She shrieked his name to the dark woods.

Translations

Anagrams

• hikers
• shrike