squeal

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English squelen, also northern suelen,^[2][3][4] probably imitative.^{[4][5][6][7][3][2]} Barnhart, Etymonline and the Middle English Dictionary compare Old Norse skvala (“to cry out”),^[3][4][2] the Shorter Oxford compares squall,^[8][9] and Weekley squeak.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, to give a long, sharp cry from pain or fright; to scream: before 1300, in the Cursor Mundi.^[6] In the Middle English Dictionary the first sense is a child's screaming, as of a newborn child in the crib in the Cursor Mundi.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From people the verb spread to animals and birds (early 15th century) and to things that make a shrill sound, first in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice (1600).^[6] Johnson (1755) set it beside squeak: a squeak is a short, sudden cry, a squeal a long one.^[11] The noun is recorded from 1747.^{[6][12][3][4]} In slang a squeal was an informer by 1821,^[13] and the verb "to inform on someone" is recorded from 1846 in an American police paper,^[6] though Barnhart and Etymonline date it to Hotten's slang dictionary of 1865;^[3][4] Weekley notes that both squeak and squeal were used this way, squeal especially in America.^[10] The noun followed in American slang, an act of informing (1872) and, in police use, a call for help or a case to investigate (1949).^[6][8] The figurative sense "to complain, protest" is now chiefly British and informal.^[8][14] In Scots the noun could mean a quarrel (1788), and the verb to grumble or scold.^[6][15] In the 20th century the verb became transitive for making tyres squeal (1965).^[6][8]

Timeline

• before 1300 – of people, to cry out shrilly in pain or fright.^[6][2]
• 1400–50 – of animals or birds.^[6]
• 1600 – of things, to make a shrill sound.^[6]
• 1675 – transitive, to utter or produce with a shrill sound.^[6]
• 1747 – noun, a prolonged sharp cry.^{[6][12][3][4]}
• 1788 – noun, Scottish, a quarrel.^[6]
• 1821 – noun, slang, an informer.^[13]
• 1846 – slang, to inform on someone.^[6] Barnhart and Etymonline date this sense to 1865.^[3][4]
• 1872 – noun, American slang, an act of informing.^[6]
• 1949 – noun, police slang, a call for police help.^[6]
• 1965 – to make tyres squeal.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give a long, high, shrill cry, as from pain, fear or excitement: The piglets squealed when the gate swung open.^[12][14][6]
2. Of a thing, to make a loud, shrill, drawn-out noise: The tyres squealed as the car took the corner.^[12][14][6]
3. (slang) To inform on someone; to turn informer, usually with on.^{[12][14][6][8]}
4. (informal) To complain or protest loudly.^[14][8]
5. To say something in a shrill voice, or to make something such as a tyre squeal.^[6][8]

Noun

1. A long, shrill cry or sound: a squeal of brakes.^[12][14][6]
2. (slang) An act of informing; in police use, a call for help or a case to investigate.^[6][8]

Word family

• squealer

Related words

• squall
• squeak

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)