▪ I. † squall, n.1 Obs.
[Of obscure origin.]
1. A small or insignificant person. Usu. as a term of abuse.
| 1570 Marr. Wit & Sci. v. iii, This it is that makes me loke so leane, That lettes my groth, and makes me seeme a squall. 1589 E. A. Triumphs Love & Fortune E, But, sirra, you must know this same squall is the Dukes sonne. 1591 J. Harington Orl. Fur. xliii. iv, Some miser, base deformed squall That save his riches hath no worthy parts. 1607 Middleton Michaelmas Term iii. i, Who would think now this fine sophisticated squall came out of the bosom of a barn, and the loins of a hay-tosser? c 1630 Edw. Ford Ballad Norfolk Farmer's Journ. London xi, A woman that is mighty tall, And yet her spouse a little squall. |
| transf. 1614 Gorges Lucan ix. 405 As his owne breed those [young ones that can look at the sun] he [the Eagle] affects: But euery wincking squall reiects. |
2. Applied to a girl: (see quots.).
| 1607 Middleton Michaelmas Term i. ii, Wouldst thou, a pretty, beautiful, juicy squall, live in a poor thrummed house i' th' country? 1611 Cotgr., Obeseau,..a young minx, or little proud squall. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. ii. 112 The rich Gull Gallant calls her Deare and Loue, Ducke, Lambe, Squall, Sweetheart, Cony, and his Doue. |
▪ II. squall, n.2
(skwɔːl)
Also 8 squawl.
[f. squall v.1]
1. A discordant or violent scream; a loud, harsh cry.
| 1709 W. King Misc. 518 Betty distorts her Face with hideous Squawl, And Mouth of a Foot wide begins to bawl. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 443 Very bad music, badly executed, being rather roars or squalls than songs. 1782 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Odes to R.A.'s xiii. Wks. 1812 I. 42 My lovely strangers, one and all, Gave, all at once, a diabolic squawl. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 94 The crowing pheasant..Betrays his lair with awkward squalls. 1833 H. Martineau Manch. Strike vi. 69 The passing squalls of the baby, who, however, allowed himself to be quickly hushed. 1883 Century Mag. XXVIII. 189 Away up the cañon, a wild-cat welcomed us with three discordant squalls. |
b. The action or habit of squalling or talking in a shrill voice.
| 1755 Connoisseur No. 51 ¶3 He was determined, that the babe..should be put out to nurse,—he hated the squall of children. 1825 Creevey in C. Papers (1904) II. 87 Altho' these young ladies..have all more or less of the quality squall, yet their manners are particularly correct. |
† 2. Cant. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1725 New Cant. Dict., Squawl, a Voice; as, The Cove as a bien Squawl, the Fellow has a good Voice. |
▪ III. squall, n.3
(skwɔːl)
[Of obscure origin: perhaps connected with prec.]
1. a. A sudden and violent gust, a blast or short sharp storm, of wind. orig. Naut.
| 1719 Boyer's Dict. Royal 1, Rafale, Rafal,..squall. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 128 It blew..not only by squalls and sudden flaws but a settled terrible tempest. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 346 A very violent and sudden Squall took us quite a-head. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 402 The squalls continued from five minutes to half an hour at a time. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. II. 7 He was drowned, with all his family, in a sudden squall on the Indus. 1886 Pall Mall G. 4 Oct. 8/2 A fishing boat..was upset by a squall on the same day, and its three occupants perished. |
| Comb. 1898 Daily News 19 April 3/2 The squall-beaten shores of the Basque Provinces. |
b. Const. of (wind, rain, snow, etc.).
| 1748 Anson's Voy. i. viii. 78 We had frequent squalls of rain and snow. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1783) I. 55 A sudden squall of wind..landed them on an unknown island. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 347 Captain Cole landed..in a heavy squall of wind and rain, which effectually concealed his movements. 1879 Beerbohm Patagonia v. 68 We encountered squalls of hailstones of unusual size. |
| transf. and fig. ? 1878 B. Harte Man on Beach i. 7 A sudden flurry and gray squall of sand pipers. 1887 Stevenson J. Nicholson vi, Squalls of anger and lulls of sick collapse. |
c. With distinguishing terms (see quots.).
| 1801 Naval Chron. VI. 91 A white squall passed over. 1823 Crabb Technol. Dict. s.v., A black squall is attended with a dark cloud, in distinction from a white squall, where there are no clouds, and a thick squall, accompanied with hail, sleet, &c. 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 293 The Arched Squall..is usually distinguished by the arched form of the clouds near the horizon. Ibid., The Descending Squall issues from clouds which are formed in the lower parts of the atmosphere near the observer. 1889 Stevenson Lett. (1899) II. 136 We had a black squall astern on the port side and a white squall ahead to starboard. |
2. fig. A disturbance or commotion; a quarrel; a storm: a. In general use. (Chiefly Sc.)
| 1813 Bruce Poems II. 19 (E.D.D.), Keep out o' ilka squall aye. 1826 D. Anderson Poems 69 (E.D.D.), In raisin' or in reddin' squals [they] Met wi' their death. 1900 ‘Allen Raine’ Garthowen i, There was a squall when that was found out. |
b. In the phr. look out for squalls. orig. Naut.
| 1837 Marryat Dog Fiend xxiv, Look out for squalls, that's all. 1850 Smedley Frank Fairlegh xxxi, Mind your eye, and look out for squalls, for that's a rasper and no mistake. 1902 E. Banks Newspaper Girl 299 Ah! Now, I suppose, we must look out for squalls. I suppose in this book you..are going to pay off old scores. |
c. U.S. A bad temper.
| 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 96 The old gentleman came home in quite a squall. |
3. Special Comb.: squall line, a line along which high winds and storms are occurring (see also quot. 1950).
| 1906 Q. Jrnl. Meteorol. Soc. XXXII. 264 From the Kew curves we might be led to suppose that the velocity in the squall was approximately of the same magnitude as the velocity of the squall line. 1923 N. Shaw Air & its Ways 75 The surface boundary of the polar front in this region is called the ‘squall line’. 1950 Jrnl. Meteorol. VII. 21/1 The term squall line is among the oldest in meteorology and is perhaps the least clearly defined. Prior to the general adoption..of the frontal theory of cyclones, it was customary to designate as a squall line any line of storms projecting in a general southerly and easterly direction from a depression... With the advent of the frontal theory, some of these lines of storms were redesignated more descriptively as cold fronts... There remained the lines of storms which appear in general in the warm sector of cyclones, roughly parallel to the cold front, and along which there is intense convective activity. 1979 L. J. Battan Fund. Meteorol. ix. 187 Most often the storms regarded as being in the organized class are those that form in lines or bands of thunderstorms, sometimes called squall lines... They commonly are initiated along a cold front, or ahead of, and nearly parallel to it. |
▪ IV. squall, n.4 local.
[Of obscure origin.]
A boggy or springy piece of ground.
| 1784 Young's Annals Agric. II. 43 In many of their fields they are troubled with springs; they call the wet spots squalls. 1794 [see spew n. 3]. 1794 Griggs Agric. Essex 21 Where there are squails [sic], with sand or drift gravel, the passages are apt to choak in a short time. |
▪ V. squall, v.1
(skwɔːl)
Also 7–9 squawl (8 squawll).
[Imitative: cf. squeal v. It is doubtful whether there is any direct connexion with some Scand. forms having the stem skval- and denoting noise of various kinds.]
1. intr. To scream loudly or discordantly: a. Of birds or animals.
| a 1631 Drayton Noah's Flood Wks. (1748) 467/1 The raven croaks, the carrion crow doth squall, The pye doth chatter, and the partridge call. a 1721 Prior Turtle & Sp. 422 Begone..And hear thy dirty Off-spring Squawl From Bottles on a Suburb-Wall. [1759 Ann. Reg. 65 They said, that as he squalled like a cat, they would dispatch him likewise.] 1842 Tennyson Day-Dream 144 The parrot scream'd, the peacock squall'd. 1859 A. Cary Country Life (1876) 263 A flock of geese swimming in a shallow pond and squalling when he comes near. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. iii. xiii, They..gave a cheer that..sent the birds once more flying and squalling round the anchorage. |
b. Of persons, esp. children.
The common usage. Freq. with a touch of contempt.
| 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., The least Thing that ails him makes him squawl. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Squawl,..to cry aloud. 1724 Swift Corinna Wks. 1751 III. ii. 154 She seem'd to laugh and squawl in rhymes. 1760 Goldsm. Cit. W. lxxxv, If they be for war,..I should advise them to have a public congress, and there fairly squall at each other. 1835 Politeness & Gd.-breeding 76 If any thing unpleasant happens at table,..do not squall out. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxix, Seated at the piano with the utmost gravity, and squalling to the best of her power. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. i. v, Don't stand here squalling. |
2. trans. To utter or sing in a loud discordant tone. Also with out.
| 1703 T. Baker Tunbridge-Walks i, To hear a parcel of Italian Eunuchs, like so many Cats, squawll out somewhat you don't understand. 1762 Phil. Trans. LII. 475 The woman squalled out, all of a sudden, that an adder..had stung her by the finger. 1779 Mirror No. 34, She sung, or rather squalled, a song of Sacchini's. 1835 Court Mag. VI. 25/1 One of the common-place psalm tunes, squalled by charity children. |
▪ VI. † squall, v.2 Obs. rare.
Also 8 squawl.
[Of obscure origin.]
1. intr. To turn the feet outwards in walking.
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Monmouth. iv. (1662) 54 He was not onely what the Latines call compernis, knocking his knees together, and going out squalling with his feet, but also haulted a little. |
2. trans. (See quot.)
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Squawl, to throw a wry. |