SCREECH • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Screech

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noun

Screech n. A harsh, shrill cry, as of one in acute pain or in fright; a shriek; a scream.

Screech bird, or Screech thrush (Zool.), the fieldfare; so called from its harsh cry before rain.

Screech rain.

Screech hawk (Zool.), the European goatsucker; so called from its note. (Prov. Eng.)

Screech owl. (Zool.)

(a)

A small American owl (Scops asio), either gray or reddish in color.

(b)

The European barn owl. The name is applied also to other species.

verb

Screech v. i. (past & past part. screeched; pres. part. screeching) To utter a harsh, shrill cry; to make a sharp outcry, as in terror or acute pain; to scream; to shriek. "The screech owl, screeching loud."

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Etymology of 'Screech'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Screech" Quotes from Famous Books

... little: "Take thou heed; from thee hath issued a bird of harm, in choler a wild screech-owl, ...

— The Danish History, Books I-IX • Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Learned")

... what I intended to be an awe-inspiring screech; but, owing to the flutter of my breath, the effort ended in a curious mixture ...

— New National Fourth Reader • Charles J. Barnes and J. Marshall Hawkes

... would labour, were they brought upon the stage, is their simplicity in contrast with the ghastly and contorted horrors that envelop them. A dialogue abounding in the passages I have already quoted—a dialogue which bandies 'O you screech-owl!' and 'Thou foul black cloud!'—in which a sister's admonition to her brother to think twice of suicide assumes a form ...

— Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Complete - Series I, II, and III • John Symonds

... stair Will grumble at our feet, the table cry: 'Fetch my belongings for me; I am bare.' A clatter! Something in the attic falls. A ghost has lifted up his robes and fled. The loitering shadows move along the walls; Then silence very slowly lifts his head. The starling with impatient screech has flown The chimney, and is watching from the tree. They thought us gone for ever: mouse alone Stops in the middle of the floor to see. Now all you idle things, resume your toil. Hearth, put your flames on. ...

— Georgian Poetry 1916-17 • Various

... answered. "You see, she has been with us boys, and she can play, and doesn't screech if you touch her, or mind a bit if she tears her frock. So are our cousins in England—some of them. Yes, there are some jolly girls, of course; still, after all, what's the good of them, taking them altogether? They are very nice ...

— The Young Franc Tireurs - And Their Adventures in the Franco-Prussian War • G. A. Henty

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