Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A fluttering or tremulous sound, as that made by certain birds; a warble.
- n. Music The rapid alternation of two tones either a whole or a half tone apart.
- n. Music A vibrato.
- n. Linguistics A rapid vibration of one speech organ against another, as of the tongue against the alveolar ridge in Spanish rr.
- n. Linguistics A speech sound pronounced with such a vibration.
- v. To sound, sing, or play with a trill.
- v. To articulate (a sound) with a trill.
- v. To produce or give forth a trill.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To turn round rapidly; twirl; whirl.
- To roll to and fro; rock.
- To throw; cast.
- To pour out.
- To roll.
- To rock; swing to and fro; shake; quiver.
- To roll down, as water; trickle.
- To sound with tremulous vibrations.
- To sing in a quavering manner; specifically, to execute a shake or trill.
- To sing in a quavering or tremulous manner; pipe.
- To pronounce with a quick vibration of the tongue; roll, as the sound of r.
- n. A quavering, tremulous sound; a rapid, trembling series or succession of tones; a warbling.
- n. In music, same as shake, 5; also, formerly, the effect now called the vibrato.
- n. A consonant pronounced with a trilling sound, as r.
Wiktionary
- n. A rapid alternation between an indicated note and the one above it, in musical notation usually indicated with the letters tr written above the staff.
- n. A type of consonantal sound that is produced by vibrations of the tongue against the place of articulation, for example, Spanish rr.
- v. To trickle.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To flow in a small stream, or in drops rapidly succeeding each other; to trickle.
- v. To turn round; to twirl.
- v. To impart the quality of a trill to; to utter as, or with, a trill
- v. To utter trills or a trill; to play or sing in tremulous vibrations of sound; to have a trembling sound; to quaver.
- n. A sound, of consonantal character, made with a rapid succession of partial or entire intermissions, by the vibration of some one part of the organs in the mouth -- tongue, uvula, epiglottis, or lip -- against another part.
- n. The action of the organs in producing such sounds. d.
- n. A shake or quaver of the voice in singing, or of the sound of an instrument, produced by the rapid alternation of two contiguous tones of the scale. See Shake.
WordNet 3.0
- v. pronounce with a trill, of the phoneme `r'
- n. the articulation of a consonant (especially the consonant `r') with a rapid flutter of the tongue against the palate or uvula
- n. a note that alternates rapidly with another note a semitone above it
- v. sing or play with trills, alternating with the half note above or below
Etymologies
- Italian trillo, from trillare, to trill, probably ultimately of imitative origin.
Examples
“Most painful to me, however, is that the trill, which is so important to the understanding of the sonata's main theme, is to be played fortissimo, while elsewhere in the movement remaining remote and mysterious.”
“The trill is the most difficult of all vocal exercises.”
“There still remains the trill, which is best practised in the beginning as follows: --”
“Dear Miss Betham, -- That accursed word trill has vexed me excessively.”
The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 5 The Letters of Charles and Mary Lamb
“[The trill is a voiced sound but I found that trying it first voiced lowered the point of articulation to the glottis or pharynx.]”
“Bun-B establishes himself as a contemporary authority on sincerity and authenticity ( "trill") on the early track "Put It Down," where he raps, "When it comes to being trill I'm a litmus test.”
“In case you didn't know, the word "trill" has a new primary meaning.”
“Watch out for the headline that Wales bans 'trill' and Cardiff market stole holders go bust.”
“I would be the one that sat with the other kids while DH got on the "trill" rides.”
“To expect to maintain this exaltation with our present nature is like requiring of the athlete that he never relax his muscles, or of the prima donna that she never cease the exquisite trill which is but the momentary proof of what her present organization is capable.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘trill’.
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Of Imitative Origin
Words formed in imitation of the sound of the things they signify.
bawl, biff, blizzard, blob, blooper, bob, boff, bomb, bonkers, boo, borborygmus, brouhaha and 148 more...
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The weird, the wonderful and the plain hilarious
Loved for their ingenuity, an exact description, or simply for the pure joy of it.
acidulous, aprosdoketon, higgledy-piggledy, lexicographical, ninja, audacious, somnabulist, shivaree, amorphous, quidnunc, glib, melancholy and 353 more...
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Words without the letter E
chord, slur, anabaptist, anabolic, diabolic, turbid, torpid, somniloquist, trump, bipolar, dioxin, hydrocarbon and 107 more...
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Sounds
words that describe sound
atchoo, atishoo, babble, bam, bay, beep, blast, blather, bleat, bleep, blip, bong and 241 more...
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gangster
random gangster lingo.
( randomness )right chea, swagga, chinga, slams, blitzy, earf, manor, code name, rekkid, weight, feather, kong and 298 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( etymology )
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 837 more...
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Water always flows downhill
The path of least resistance, watercourses, plumbing....
swale, hollow, creek, crick, depression, holler, draw, ditch, corrie, cwm, continental divide, stream and 66 more...
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Guitar Performance Terms
adroit, arrangement, persuasiveness, twang, gaccade, pukka, trill, lick, chording, fretting, tremolo, pizzicato and 4 more...
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pretentious words i have used or hope to use wh...
a list of pretentious words i have used or hope to use when discussing operas because they make me feel like i am considerably more knowledgeable about opera than i actually am.
pulchritudinous, divina, libretto, diegetic, syncretism, mezzo-soprano, contralto, coloratura, tenor, baritone, bass-baritone, bass and 40 more...
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Sounds
Shhh! Listen! Did you hear that?
tintinnabulous, susurration, ululation, pandemonium, keening, tinkle, clang, caterwaul, twangle, twank, din, rumble and 34 more...
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verbage
falter, quiver, undulating, paw, trill

yarb The spring green sparkled in the spring light. Tree toads were trilling.
- William Steig, The Amazing Bone Sep 29, 2008
brtom "The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun." Whitman, Song of Myself, 2 Jan 3, 2008