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Growl

//ɡɹaʊl// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A deep, rumbling, threatening sound made in the throat by an animal.

    "Hardly anything is more intensely disagreeable to one walking along the street, than to hear near his path a low savage growl—the expression of a surly dog's opinion and purpose."

  2. 2
    the sound of growling (as made by animals) wordnet
  3. 3
    A similar sound made by a human. broadly
  4. 4
    The rumbling sound made by a human's hungry stomach. broadly

    "Riding down the main thoroughfare, the growl of his stomach taints the soothing jazz playing on the radio."

  5. 5
    An aggressive grumbling. broadly

    "The clerk promised that he would; and Scrooge walked out with a growl. The office was closed in a twinkling, and the clerk, with the long ends of his white comforter dangling below his waist (for he boasted no great-coat), went down a slide on Cornhill, at the end of a lane of boys, twenty times, in honour of its being Christmas Eve, and then ran home to Camden Town as hard as he could pelt, to play at blindman's-buff."

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  1. 6
    A low-pitched rumbling sound produced with a wind instrument. broadly

    "The growl effect comes from fitting a small straight mute—a cornet mute for trumpet and a trumpet mute for trombone—covering the instrument's bell with a rubber plunger, the kind used by plumbers, and moving it in and out to affect the tone."

  2. 7
    Death growl broadly
Verb
  1. 1
    To utter a deep guttural sound, as an angry animal; to give forth an angry, grumbling sound. intransitive

    "The dog growled at me as I walked past."

  2. 2
    to utter or emit low dull rumbling sounds wordnet
  3. 3
    Of a wind instrument: to produce a low-pitched rumbling sound. intransitive

    "And he is bending in the wind, scooping pitch, growling. […] He plays his false fingers. Chokes the trumpet. He is naked. This is naked jazz. O-bop-she-bam. Never lying. Telling it like it is."

  4. 4
    To send a user a message via the Growl software library. intransitive
  5. 5
    To express (something) by growling. transitive

    "The old man growled his displeasure at the postman."

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  1. 6
    To play a wind instrument in a way that produces a low-pitched rumbling sound. transitive

    "[…] John Gilmore would take up his tenor and growl a keening march, Danny Thompson stab and worry with a flute, Sun Ra leave his big conga and mount the temple of keyboards for a ritual parenthesis of chromatic zig-zags and electro-howls."

  2. 7
    To perform death growl vocals. intransitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English groulen, grollen, gurlen (“of the bowels: to growl, rumble”), either possibly from Old French groler (variant of croler (“to be agitated, shake”)), grouler, grouller (“to growl, grumble”), from Frankish *grullen, *gruljan or from Old English gryllan, both from Proto-Germanic *gruljaną (“to make a sound; to growl, grumble, rumble”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to make a noise; to mumble, murmur; to rattle; to grind; to rub, stroke”), probably ultimately imitative. The word is cognate with Middle Dutch grollen (“to make a noise; to croak, grumble, murmur; to be angry”) (modern Dutch grollen (“to grumble”)), German grollen (“to rumble; to be angry, bear ill will”), Old English grillan, griellan (“to provoke, offend; to gnash the teeth”). Compare grill. The noun is derived from the verb.

Etymology 2

From Middle English groulen, grollen, gurlen (“of the bowels: to growl, rumble”), either possibly from Old French groler (variant of croler (“to be agitated, shake”)), grouler, grouller (“to growl, grumble”), from Frankish *grullen, *gruljan or from Old English gryllan, both from Proto-Germanic *gruljaną (“to make a sound; to growl, grumble, rumble”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to make a noise; to mumble, murmur; to rattle; to grind; to rub, stroke”), probably ultimately imitative. The word is cognate with Middle Dutch grollen (“to make a noise; to croak, grumble, murmur; to be angry”) (modern Dutch grollen (“to grumble”)), German grollen (“to rumble; to be angry, bear ill will”), Old English grillan, griellan (“to provoke, offend; to gnash the teeth”). Compare grill. The noun is derived from the verb.

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