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''warble'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''warble'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250815012114-00-⌔

warble - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Verb

warble (third-person singular simple present warbles, present participle warbling, simple past and past participle warbled)

  • (transitive) To modulate a tone’s frequency.
  • (transitive) To sing like a bird, especially with trills.
    • ✤ Her voice more sweet than warbling sound,
      Tho’ sung by nightingale or lark,
      Her eyes such lustre dart around,
      Compar’d to them the sun is dark.      1
    • ✤ In the swamp in secluded recesses,/A shy and hidden bird is warbling a song.2
  • (transitive) To cause to quaver or vibrate.
    • ✤ touch the warbled string3
  • (intransitive) To be quavered or modulated; to be uttered melodiously.
    • ✤ The wailings of a maiden I recite,/A maiden fair, that Sparabella hight./Such ſtrains ne’er warble in the linnet’s throat,/Nor the gay goldfinch chaunts ſo ſweet a note, […]4

Noun

warble (countable and uncountable, plural warbles)

  • The sound of one who warbles; singing with trills or modulations.
    • ✤ The blackbirds and robins and and tits and finches shout at each other, chups and warbles and chirrups that, loosely translated, mean “Fancy a shag?”, “Get OFF my land” or “I’ve got a great big tonker.”5
  • (military) In naval mine warfare, the process of varying the frequency of sound produced by a narrowband noisemaker to ensure that the frequency to which the mine will respond is covered.

Noun

warble (plural warbles)

  • A lesion under the skin of cattle, caused by the larva of a bot fly of genus Hypoderma.
  • A small hard swelling on a horse’s back, caused by the galling of the saddle.

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA: /ˈwɔɹbl̩/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈwɔːbl̩/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Audio (Australian): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)bəl

Etymology 1

Perhaps onomatopoeic.

Etymology 2

From Middle English werble (at least for the noun), from Frankish ﹡werbel (mole cricket), cognate to Walloon waerbea.

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. a. 1722, Matthew Prior, “Non Pareil”, in H. Bunker Wright, Monroe K. Spears, editors, The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, Second edition, volume I, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1971, page 683: ↩

  2. 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems: ↩

  3. 1634, John Milton, “Arcades”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC: ↩

  4. 1714, J[ohn] Gay, “Wednesday; or, The Dumps”, in The Shepherd’s Week. In Six Pastorals, London: […] R. Burleigh […], →OCLC, page 21: ↩

  5. 2015 April 16, Richard P. Grant, “Sex and the successful fundraiser”, in The Guardian ‎: ↩

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Secondary

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