Bawling

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To cry out loudly in a manner that indicates strong emotional distress or pain, typically attracting the attention of others
2. Uttering loud, harsh cries or shouts typically expressing distress or intense emotion
3. Producing a powerful vocal noise often conveying pain, anger, or sadness

Etymology: Bawling is a form of "bawl", and the verb's sound is older than its spelling suggests: it is imitative, a cry shaped like the noise it makes. Middle English "baulen" came into use with the sense of a loud, bellowing shout, and it was shaped by two sources that met. Old Norse "baula" meant "to bellow", the low of cattle, while Medieval Latin "baulō" meant "to bark". Both trace back to a Proto-Germanic root ""bau-", "to roar". That root was then merged with a second Germanic family of words meaning "to shout, low, roar", which in turn goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root ""bʰel-", "to sound, roar". The same root gave English "bell", so the two words are distant relatives, both built on the idea of a resonant noise. Modern Scandinavian cognates survive in Icelandic "baula" and Swedish "böla", both meaning to low or moo like cattle, which keeps the original animal-noise sense alive in the northern languages.

Synonyms: crying, weeping, sobbing, wailing, blubbering

Antonyms: laughing, smiling, cheerful, amused, joyful