Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Trill?

\Trill\, v. i. [OE. trillen to roll, turn round; of Scand. origin; cf. Sw. trilla to roll, Dan. trilde, Icel. [thorn]yrla to whirl, and E. thrill. Cf. {Thrill}.] To flow in a small stream, or in drops rapidly succeeding each other; to trickle. --Sir W. Scott. And now and then an ample tear trilled down Her delicate cheek. --Shak. Whispered sounds Of waters, trilling from the riven stone. --Glover.
\Trill\, v. t. [OE. trillen; cf. Sw. trilla to roll.] To turn round; to twirl. [Obs.] --Gascoigne. Bid him descend and trill another pin. --Chaucer.
\Trill\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Trilled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Trilling}.] [It. trillare; probably of imitative origin.] To impart the quality of a trill to; to utter as, or with, a trill; as, to trill the r; to trill a note. The sober-suited songstress trills her lay. --Thomson.
\Trill\, v. i. To utter trills or a trill; to play or sing in tremulous vibrations of sound; to have a trembling sound; to quaver. To judge of trilling notes and tripping feet. --Dryden.
\Trill\, n. [It. trillo, fr. trillare. See {Trill} to shake.] 1. A sound, of consonantal character, made with a rapid succession of partial or entire intermissions, by the vibration of some one part of the organs in the mouth -- tongue, uvula, epiglottis, or lip -- against another part; as, the r is a trill in most languages. 2. The action of the organs in producing such sounds; as, to give a trill to the tongue. d 3. (Mus.) A shake or quaver of the voice in singing, or of the sound of an instrument, produced by the rapid alternation of two contiguous tones of the scale; as, to give a trill on the high C. See {Shake}.