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Trill

//tɹɪl// adj, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    True, respected. slang

    "All my trill niggas know who be bringin da funk / Lees and shell toes like it's Black History Month"

Noun
  1. 1
    A rapid alternation between an indicated note and the one above it as an ornament; in musical notation usually indicated with the letters tr written above the staff.
  2. 2
    a note that alternates rapidly with another note a semitone above it wordnet
  3. 3
    A type of consonantal sound that is produced by vibrations of the tongue against the place of articulation: for example, Spanish ⟨rr⟩, /r/.
  4. 4
    the articulation of a consonant (especially the consonant ‘r’) with a rapid flutter of the tongue against the palate or uvula wordnet
  5. 5
    A tremulous high-pitched vocal sound produced by cats.
Verb
  1. 1
    To create a trill sound; to utter trills or a trill; to play or sing in tremulous vibrations of sound; to have a trembling sound; to quaver. intransitive

    "To judge of trilling notes and tripping feet."

  2. 2
    To trickle. intransitive, obsolete

    "I come now from seeing of a shepheard at Medoc[…]who had no signe at all of genitorie parts: But where they should be, are three little holes, by which his water doth continually tril from him."

  3. 3
    To twirl. intransitive, obsolete
  4. 4
    sing or play with trills, alternating with the half note above or below wordnet
  5. 5
    To impart the quality of a trill to; to utter as, or with, a trill. transitive

    "to trill a note, or the letter r"

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    pronounce with a trill, of the phoneme /r/ wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English trillen, from Italian trillo, trillare. Compare German trillern, Norwegian trille, Swedish trilla.

Etymology 2

From Middle English trillen, from Italian trillo, trillare. Compare German trillern, Norwegian trille, Swedish trilla.

Etymology 3

Perhaps identical to Etymology 3, but compare the same sense of drill, and German trillen, drillen.

Etymology 4

Probably related to Old English þweran (“to twirl, stir”). Compare twirl, thirl, and Swedish trilla, Norwegian trille, etc.

Etymology 5

Perhaps a blend of true + real, or from keep it real, exhibiting the fill–feel merger.

See also for "trill"

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