verb (used without object)
- to cry or wail lustily.
verb (used with object)
- to utter or proclaim by outcry; shout out: to bawl one’s dissatisfaction; bawling his senseless ditties to the audience.
- to offer for sale by shouting, as a hawker: a peddler bawling his wares.
noun
- a loud shout; outcry.
- a period or spell of loud crying or weeping.
- Chiefly Midland and Western U.S. the noise made by a calf.
Verb Phrases
- bawl out, Informal. to scold vociferously; reprimand or scold vigorously: Your father will bawl you out when he sees this mess.
verb
- (intr) to utter long loud cries, as from pain or frustration; wail
- to shout loudly, as in anger
noun
- a loud shout or cry
mid-15c., “to howl like a dog,” from Old Norse baula “to low like a cow,” and/or Medieval Latin baulare “to bark like a dog,” both echoic. Meaning “to shout loudly” attested from 1590s. To bawl (someone) out “reprimand loudly” is 1908, American English. Related: Bawled; bawling.