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trill - 10 dictionary results

trill

1  [tril] ,
Use trill in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to sing or play with a vibratory or quavering effect.
2. Phonetics. to produce (a sound) with a trill.
3. (of birds, insects, etc.) to sing or utter in a succession of rapidly alternating sounds.
–verb (used without object)
4. to resound vibrantly, or with a rapid succession of sounds, as the voice, song, or laughter.
5. to utter or make a sound or succession of sounds resembling such singing, as a bird, frog, grasshopper, or person laughing.
6. to execute a shake or trill with the voice or on a musical instrument.
7. Phonetics. to execute a trill, esp. with the tongue, as while singing, talking, or whistling.
–noun
8. the act or sound of trilling.
9. Music. a rapid alternation of two adjacent tones; a shake.
10. a similar sound, or succession of sounds, uttered or made by a bird, an insect, a person laughing, etc.
11. Phonetics.
a. a sequence of repetitive, rapid, vibratory movements produced in any free articulator or membrane by a rush of air expelled from the lungs and often causing a corresponding sequence of contacts between the vibrating articulator and another organ or surface.
b. a speech sound produced by such a trill.
Origin:
1635–45; < It trillo quaver or warble in singing ≪ Gmc; cf. D trillen to vibrate, late ME trillen to shake or rock (something)

trill

2  [tril] Archaic.
–verb (used without object)
1. to flow in a thin stream; trickle.
–verb (used with object)
2. to cause to flow in a thin stream.
Origin:
1300–50; ME trillen to make (something) turn, to roll, flow (said of tears, water) < ODan trijlæ to roll (said, e.g., of tears and of a wheelbarrow); cf. Norw trille, Sw trilla. See trill 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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trill   (trĭl)   
n.  
  1. A fluttering or tremulous sound, as that made by certain birds; a warble.
  2. Music
    1. The rapid alternation of two tones either a whole or a half tone apart.
    2. A vibrato.
    3. A rapid vibration of one speech organ against another, as of the tongue against the alveolar ridge in Spanish rr.
    4. A speech sound pronounced with such a vibration.
  3. Linguistics
    1. A rapid vibration of one speech organ against another, as of the tongue against the alveolar ridge in Spanish rr.
    2. A speech sound pronounced with such a vibration.
v.   trilled, tril·ling, trills

v.   tr.
  1. To sound, sing, or play with a trill.
  2. To articulate (a sound) with a trill.
v.   intr.
To produce or give forth a trill.

[Italian trillo, from trillare, to trill, probably ultimately of imitative origin.]
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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Trill

Trill\, v. i. [OE. trillen to roll, turn round; of Scand. origin; cf. Sw. trilla to roll, Dan. trilde, Icel. [thorn]yrla to whirl, and E. thrill. Cf. Thrill.] To flow in a small stream, or in drops rapidly succeeding each other; to trickle. --Sir W. Scott.

And now and then an ample tear trilled down Her delicate cheek. --Shak.

Whispered sounds Of waters, trilling from the riven stone. --Glover.

Trill

Trill\, v. t. [OE. trillen; cf. Sw. trilla to roll.] To turn round; to twirl. [Obs.] --Gascoigne.

Bid him descend and trill another pin. --Chaucer.

Trill

Trill\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Trilled; p. pr. & vb. n. Trilling.] [It. trillare; probably of imitative origin.] To impart the quality of a trill to; to utter as, or with, a trill; as, to trill the r; to trill a note.

The sober-suited songstress trills her lay. --Thomson.

Trill

Trill\, v. i. To utter trills or a trill; to play or sing in tremulous vibrations of sound; to have a trembling sound; to quaver.

To judge of trilling notes and tripping feet. --Dryden.

Trill

Trill\, n. [It. trillo, fr. trillare. See Trill to shake.]

1. A sound, of consonantal character, made with a rapid succession of partial or entire intermissions, by the vibration of some one part of the organs in the mouth -- tongue, uvula, epiglottis, or lip -- against another part; as, the r is a trill in most languages.

2. The action of the organs in producing such sounds; as, to give a trill to the tongue. d

3. (Mus.) A shake or quaver of the voice in singing, or of the sound of an instrument, produced by the rapid alternation of two contiguous tones of the scale; as, to give a trill on the high C. See Shake.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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trill  (n.)
1649, from It. trillio, triglio "a quavering or warbling in singing," probably of imitative origin. The verb is 1666, from It. trillare "to quaver, trill."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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trill

in phonetics, a vibration or series of flaps (see flap) of the tongue, lips, or uvula against some other part of the mouth. The Spanish rr in perro ("dog") is a tongue trill, and the French r is sometimes pronounced as an uvular trill

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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