Warble
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 The sound of one who warbles; singing with trills or modulations. countable, uncountable
"The blackbirds and robins and and^([sic]) tits and finches shout at each other, chups and warbles and chirrups that, loosely translated, mean “Fancy a shag?”, “Get OFF my land” or “I’ve got a great big tonker.”"
- 2 A lesion under the skin of cattle, caused by the larva of a bot fly of genus Hypoderma.
- 3 a lumpy abscess under the hide of domestic mammals caused by larvae of a botfly or warble fly wordnet
- 4 In naval mine warfare, the process of varying the frequency of sound produced by a narrowband noisemaker to ensure that the frequency to which the mine will respond is covered. countable, uncountable
- 5 A small hard swelling on a horse's back, caused by the galling of the saddle.
- 1 To modulate a tone's frequency. transitive
- 2 sing by changing register; sing by yodeling wordnet
- 3 To sing like a bird, especially with trills. transitive
"Her voice more sweet than warbling sound, Tho’ sung by nightingale or lark, Her eyes such lustre dart around, Compar’d to them the sun is dark."
- 4 sing or play with trills, alternating with the half note above or below wordnet
- 5 To cause to quaver or vibrate. transitive
"touch the warbled string"
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- 6 To be quavered or modulated; to be uttered melodiously. intransitive
"The wailings of a maiden I recite, / A maiden fair, that Sparabella hight. / Such ſtrains ne'er warble in the linnet's throat, / Nor the gay goldfinch chaunts ſo ſweet a note, [...]"
Example
More examples"A variety of birds fly into my garden every morning, some in search of food, and some to warble in the shade, for the boughs grow very thick, and three fountains water the cool retreat."
Etymology
Perhaps onomatopoeic.
From Middle English werble (at least for the noun), from Frankish *werbel (mole cricket), cognate to Walloon waerbea.
Related phrases
More for "warble"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.