Pronunciations (2)
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/ˈskwɔːl/
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ˈskwɔːl
Verb
To cry or wail loudly.
- Examples
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Sow ran and squall'd, While Jack he bawl'd, And Jill join'd in the choir, Dog Ball being near, Bit sow by the ear, And threw Jack into the mire.
More examples (1)
Squalling was the word for it, Pew's anger rose so high at these objections; till at last, his passion completely taking the upper hand, he struck at them right and left in his blindness, and his stick sounded heavily on more than one.
Squalling like an infuriated cat, the shadow crashed down
More examples (3)
The orchestra burst into a sudden loud squalling.
Some night-bird, belike, or a sea-gull squalling below the headland.
she wrapped the squalling, wriggling baby tightly into the fine cotton sheet
To fall suddenly and forcefully, as if a squall.
Usage- of rain
- Examples
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More examples (1)
[…] rain squalled fretfully against the schoolhouse roof. Although it had stopped by the time the afternoon recess was due, Miss Willie decided that it was too cold and raw for the children to be out a full half hour, so she sent them[…]
[…] of squalling rain and a blustering westerly wind.
Rain squalled sudden against the window. The Old Writer cursed and shouldered out the door.
More examples (2)
Rain squalled in heavy sheets across the street.
[…] the sky opened up into a cloud-burst of squalling rain.
Noun
A sudden storm, as found in a squall line.
Usage- often
- Examples
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More examples (2)
Luckily she wasn’t there any more, no one was, when he returned from the Caribbean carnival damp-hatted and soaked through after being caught unprepared by a squall of hard, hot rain.
With reports of the Japanese forces bearing down on them confirmed, Rear Admiral Sprague orders his ships east, heading towards a series of rain squalls, hoping for concealment. This will hopefully delay the Japanese closing the range, and also draw them away from the much-more-vulnerable landing ships.
A squall line, multicell line, or part of a squall line.
A loud cry or wail.
- Examples
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More examples (2)
But the third Emir, now seeing himself all alone on the quarter-deck, seems to feel relieved from some curious restraint; for, tipping all sorts of knowing winks in all sorts of directions, and kicking off his shoes, he strikes into a sharp but noiseless squall of a hornpipe right over the Grand Turk’s head; and then, by a dexterous sleight, pitching his cap up into the mizentop for a shelf, he goes down rollicking so far at least as he remains visible from the deck, reversing all other processions, by bringing up the rear with music.
The media present rising prices as a passing squall for the middle class, brought on by Vlad ’n’ Liz and resulting in spiking mortgage rates and fewer trips to Waitrose. But beneath those headlines are millions of others for whom the problem isn’t rising prices, but falling incomes.
Noun
sudden violent winds; often accompanied by precipitation
- Broader terms
Verb
make high-pitched, whiney noises
utter a sudden loud cry
- Examples
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she cried with pain when the doctor inserted the needle
I yelled to her from the window but she couldn't hear me
blow in a squall
- Broader terms
- Examples
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When it squalls, a prudent sailor reefs his sails