Gowl

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To let out a long, loud, mournful cry, as a dog or person might when distressed or in pain
2. Making a prolonged, wailing sound of grief, pain or complaint in the manner of a howling animal
3. Uttering a loud, drawn-out wail, especially one expressing misery or distress, in the Scots dialect sense

Etymology: "Gowl" comes from Old English "gaulen" or "goulen", a verb for howling or crying out, and it is closely related to "yawl", which carries the same sense of a loud, wailing cry. Both words are imitative in character: the sounds they name are the sounds they seem to make, a long drawn-out wail rising in the throat. Because of this, the word fits animals and people alike, from a dog left alone at night to someone crying out in pain. The word's exact ancestry is less settled. Some have suggested an Irish origin, but this has not been established, so the Old English forms remain the firmest ground for its history. Its survival alongside "yowl" and "yawl" shows how such cries have been expressed in English through a family of closely linked forms.