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warble

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war⋅ble

1  [wawr-buhl] verb, -bled, -bling, noun
Use warble in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to sing or whistle with trills, quavers, or melodic embellishments: The canary warbled most of the day.
2. to yodel.
3. (of electronic equipment) to produce a continuous sound varying regularly in pitch and frequency.
–verb (used with object)
4. to sing (an aria or other selection) with trills, quavers, or melodious turns.
5. to express or celebrate in or as if in song; carol.
–noun
6. a warbled song or succession of melodic trills, quavers, etc.
7. the act of warbling.
Origin:
1300–50; ME werble a tune < ONF < Gmc; cf. OHG werbel something that turns, equiv. to werb- (c. OE hweorf- in hweorfan to turn) + -el n. suffix
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war⋅ble

2  [wawr-buhl]
–noun Veterinary Pathology.
1. a small, hard tumor on a horse's back, produced by the galling of the saddle.
2. a lump in the skin of an animal's back, containing the larva of a warble fly.
Origin:
1575–85; orig. uncert.; cf. obs. Sw varbulde boil

Related forms:
warbled, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To warble
war·ble 1   (wôr'bəl)   
v.   war·bled, war·bling, war·bles

v.   tr.
To sing (a note or song, for example) with trills, runs, or other melodic embellishments.
v.   intr.

  1. To sing with trills, runs, or quavers.

  2. To be sounded in a trilling or quavering manner.

n.  The act or an instance of singing with trills, runs, or quavers.

[Middle English werbelen, from Old North French werbler, of Germanic origin.]
war·ble 2   (wôr'bəl)   
n.  

    1. An abscessed boillike swelling on the back of cattle, deer, and certain other animals, caused by the larva of a warble fly.

    2. The warble fly, especially in its larval stage.

  2. A hard lump of tissue on a riding horse's back caused by rubbing of the saddle.


[Probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to obsolete Swedish varbulde.]
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

warble  (v.)
c.1300, from O.N.Fr. werbler "to sing with trills and quavers," from Frank. *werbilon (cf. O.H.G. wirbil "whirlwind," Ger. Wirbel "whirl, whirlpool, tuning peg, vertebra," M.Du. wervelen "to turn, whirl"); see whirl. The noun meaning "tune, melody" is recorded from c.1300. Warbler applied to Old World songbirds (1773), in North America to birds that look like them but sing little (1783).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: war·ble
Pronunciation: 'wor-b&l
Function: noun
1 : a swelling under the hide especially of the back of cattle, horses, andwild mammals caused by the maggot of a botfly or warble fly
2 : the maggot of a warble fly —war·bled /-b&ld/ adjective
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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