SHRILL, adjective [Latin grillus.] 1. Sharp; acute; piercing; as sound; as a shrill voice; shrill echoes. 2. Uttering an acute sound; as the cock's shrill sounding throat; a shrill trumpet. [NOTE. A shrill may be tremulous of trilling; but this circumstance is not essential it, although it seems to be of the root of trill.] SHRILL, verb intransitive To utter an acute piercing sound. Break we out pipes that shrill'd as loud as lark. Spenser. SHRILL, verb transitive To cause to make a shrill sound.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI