warble

English

WOTD – 14 May 2006

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Verb

warble (third-person singular simple present warbles, present participle warbling, simple past and past participle warbled)

  1. (transitive) To modulate a tone's frequency.
  2. (transitive) To sing like a bird, especially with trills.
  3. (transitive) To cause to quaver or vibrate.
    • Milton
      touch the warbled string
  4. (intransitive) To be quavered or modulated; to be uttered melodiously.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Gay
      Such strains ne'er warble in the linnet's throat.
Synonyms
  • (to modulate a tone's frequency): trill
Translations

Noun

warble (countable and uncountable, plural warbles)

  1. The sound of one who warbles; singing with trills or modulations.
  2. (military) 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.

Etymology 2

From Middle English werble (at least for the noun), from Frankish werbel (mole cricket), cognate to Walloon waerbea.

Noun

warble (plural warbles)

  1. A lesion under the skin of cattle, caused by the larva of a bot fly of genus Hypoderma.
  2. A small hard swelling on a horse's back, caused by the galling of the saddle.
Derived terms
Translations

Anagrams

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