trill

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“
Kneisel insists on what he calls a 'musical trill,' of which Kreisler's beautiful trill is a perfect example.

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Definitions (35)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. noun A fluttering or tremulous sound, as that made by certain birds; a warble.
  2. noun Music The rapid alternation of two tones either a whole or a half tone apart.
  3. noun Music A vibrato.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (16)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (7)

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Examples (50)

  • The elevators 'call-buttons trigger a melodic trill, followed by related sounds as an elevator car arrives. —  Top Story
  • The singers train to do unusual things with the human voice, like how to sing a trill or hit a high C. —  Triablogue
  • I laughed that laugh you laugh, more like a trill, when you're trying to get away, and said
  • A trill is used when animals are no more than 32 feet (10 meters) away from one another. —  EcoEarth.Info Environment RSS Newsfeed
  • To Desmond, that trill was the answer to the quavering, troubled cadences of the first verse; the vindication of the spirit soaring upwards unfettered by the flesh--the pure spirit, not released from the pitiful human clay without a fierce struggle. —  The Hill A Romance of Friendship
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Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Italian trillo, from trillare, to trill, probably ultimately of imitative origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. Early modern English also tril, tryll; from Middle English trillen, tryllen, from Danish trille, roll, trundle (trille, a disk, trillebör, wheelbarrow), =Swedish trilla, roll (trilla, a roller); cf. troll. The word has been more or less confused with thrill and drill (to which its resemblance appears to be accidental), and with trill.
  2. =D. trillen =Middle High German trillieren, German trillern, dial. trillen = Danish trille, from French triller =Italian trillare (Middle Latin trillare) (cf. Spanish Portuguese trinar), trill, quaver; prob. intended as imitative; cf. Middle Latin trillare, explained in a German gloss as “tryllsingen als triltrl.” Hence, by variation, thrill. Cf. trill.
  3. =F. trille =Italian trillo; from the verb.
 

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/trɪl/
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