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screech

 - 3 dictionary results

screech

  [skreech]
Use screech in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to utter or make a harsh, shrill cry or sound: The child screeched hysterically. The brakes screeched.
–verb (used with object)
2. to utter with a screech: She screeched her warning.
–noun
3. a harsh, shrill cry or sound: an owl's screech; the screech of brakes.
Origin:
1550–60; var. of obs. scritch to scream; akin to screak

Related forms:
screecher, noun

Synonyms:
1. See scream.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To screech
screech   (skrēch)   
n.  

  1. A high-pitched, strident cry.

  2. A sound suggestive of this cry: the screech of train brakes.

v.   screeched, screech·ing, screech·es

v.   tr.
To utter in or as if in a screech.
v.   intr.

  1. To cry out in a high-pitched, strident voice.

  2. To make a sound suggestive of a screech: Tires screeched on the wet pavement.


[Alteration of obsolete scrich, from Middle English scrichen, to screech, perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse skrækja.]
screech'er n., screech'i·ness n., screech'y adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

screech 
c.1250, schrichen, possibly of imitative origin (cf. shriek). The noun is first recorded 1560. Screech owl is attested from 1593 (scritch-owl is from 1530).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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