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bawl

[bawl]

verb (used without object)

to cry or wail lustily.

verb (used with object)

to utter or proclaim by outcry; shout out: to bawl one's dissatisfaction; bawling his senseless ditties to the audience.

to offer for sale by shouting, as a hawker: a peddler bawling his wares.

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Bawl is one of our favorite verbs.

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chat, to converse

to bark; yelp.

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noun

a loud shout; outcry.

a period or spell of loud crying or weeping.

Chiefly Midland and Western U.S. the noise made by a calf.

Verb phrase

bawl out, Informal. to scold vociferously; reprimand or scold vigorously: Your father will bawl you out when he sees this mess.

Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English < Medieval Latin baulāre to bark < Germanic; compare Old Norse baula to low, baula cow, perhaps a conflation of belja (see bell²) with an old root *bhu-

Related forms

bawl·er, noun

out·bawl, verb (used with object)

Can be confused: 1. bald, balled, bawled; 2. ball, bawl, bowl.

Synonyms
1. howl, yowl, squall, roar, bellow.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To bawl

Example Sentences

In other words bawl loud enough, or get someone to do it for you, and you'll get what you want.

It's frightening to watch someone bawl their eyes out over a cam.

And the first thing a baby does when it enters the world is bawl to let everyone know it has arrived healthy and whole.

Collins

World English Dictionary

bawl (bɔːl)

—vb
1.	(intr) to utter long loud cries, as from pain or frustration; wail
2.	to shout loudly, as in anger

—n
3.	a loud shout or cry

[C15: probably from Icelandic baula to low; related to Medieval Latin baulāre to bark, Swedish böla to low; all of imitative origin]

'bawler

—n

'bawling

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

bawl

mid-15c., from O.N. baula "to low like a cow," and/or M.L. baulare "to bark like a dog," both echoic. To bawl (someone) out "reprimand loudly" is 1908, Amer.Eng.

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Matching Quote

"Faced with even a temporary delay or absence, children pound and scream and bawl; but as soon as the situation changes, they are bafflingly sunny, and take their gratification with relish, or feel secure again when mother returns. It is said that "children cannot wait," but just the contrary is true. It is children who can wait, by making dramatic scenes (not otherwise than religious people get through hours of stress by singing hymns). They have a spontaneous mechanism to cushion even minor troubles. Rather it is the adults who have inhibited their spontaneous expression, who cannot wait; we swallow our disappointment and always taste what we have swallowed. For where the occasions of passion occur, where there is actual frustration and misery, and yet anger and grief are not explosively released, then the disposition itself is soured, and such happiness as follows is never full and unclouded."

-Paul Goodman

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