warble

Meaning

Verb

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.
4. (intransitive) To be quavered or modulated; to be uttered melodiously.

Noun

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

Noun

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.

Synonyms

trill

twitter

chirp

sing

peep

quaver

squeak

carol

yodel

hum

chirrup

pipe

shake

🫨

tweet

croon

descant

coo

chirl

call

chant

chatter

cheep

graft

purr

rattle

stridulate

tweedle

vibrato

vocalize

birdsong

Translations

trinar

zwitschern

trillern

piepen

gorjear

gorjear

pipilar

piar

gazouiller

sjilpen

kwetteren

cinguettare

piepen

tjilpen

piar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈwɔɹbl̩/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: werble

Cognate with Walloon: waerbea

In summary

Perhaps onomatopoeic.