Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense trills, present participle trilling, past tense, past participle trilled
1. verb
If a bird trills, it sings with short, high-pitched, repeated notes.
At one point a bird trilled in the Conservatory. [VERB]
2. verb
If you say that a woman trills, you mean that she talks or laughs in a high-pitched voice which sounds rather musical but which also sounds rather irritating.
'How adorable!' she trills. [VERB with quote]
3. countable noun
A trill is the playing of two musical notes repeatedly and quickly one after the other.
[technical]
trill in British English1
(trɪl)
noun
1. music
a melodic ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between a principal note and the note a whole tone or semitone above it
Usual symbol: (written above a note)tr., tr
2.
a shrill warbling sound, esp as made by some birds
3. phonetics
a.
the articulation of an (r) sound produced by holding the tip of the tongue close to the alveolar ridge, allowing the tongue to make a succession of taps against the ridge
b.
the production of a similar effect using the uvula against the back of the tongue
verb
4.
to sound, sing, or play (a trill or with a trill)
5. (transitive)
to pronounce (an (r) sound) by the production of a trill
Word origin
C17: from Italian trillo, from trillare, apparently from Middle Dutch trillen to vibrate
trill in British English2
(trɪl)
verb, noun
an archaic or poetic word for trickle
Word origin
C14: probably of Scandinavian origin; related to Norwegian trilla to roll; see trill1
trill in American English
(trɪl)
noun
1.
a rapid alternation of a given musical tone with the tone a diatonic second above it
see also vibrato
2.
the warbling sound made by some birds
3. Phonetics
a.
a rapid vibration of the tongue or uvula, as in pronouncing the sounds represented by r in some languages
b.
a sound so produced
verb transitive, verb intransitive
4.
to sound, speak, or play with a trill
Derived forms
triller (ˈtriller)
noun
Word origin
It trillo < trillare, to trill, of echoic orig.
Examples of 'trill' in a sentence
trill
It trills like a bird, sighs like a lover and conjures up a field of sheep.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The song thrushes may go on hurtling out their trills and whistles for a few more weeks but then they too will soon stop.