▪ I. yelp, n.
(jɛlp)
Forms: 1 ᵹielp, ᵹelp, ᵹilp, ᵹylp, 2–6 ȝelp(e, (3 ȝealp, ȝælp, ȝeolp, Orm. ȝellp), 5– yelp.
[OE. ᵹielp, etc. vainglory, pride = OS. gelp defiant or arrogant speech, OHG., MHG. gelph, gelf loud crying, outcry, cheerfulness, exuberance, ON. gjalp ? boasting, noise of the sea: see next.]
I. † 1. Boasting, vainglorious speaking. idle yelp, vain boasting. Obs.
| Beowulf 2521 Ᵹif ic wiste hu wið ðam aᵹlæcean elles meahte ᵹylpe wiðgripan. c 888 ælfred Boeth. xix. §1 Hwæt forstent eow þonne se ᵹilp? c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xvii. (1890) 206 Næfde he on him naðer ne yrre ne oferhyd ne ᵹytsunge, ne idel ᵹylp him on ne ricsade. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 220 Se seofoða heafod-leahter is ᵹehaten idelwuldor, þæt is ᵹylp. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 103 [He] deð for ȝelpe mare þenne for godes luue ȝif he awiht delan wule. c 1200 Ormin 4902 Þiss mahhte..cwennkeþþ i þin herrte All rosinng & all idell ȝellp. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 865 Ha beoð ful of idel ȝelp. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 9836 Of gret los mighte he make his ȝelpe. a 1400–c 1460 Towneley Myst. iii. 321 Without any yelp, At my myght shall I help. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 15602 Off her goddis myȝt made thei ȝelp. |
† b. An object of boasting. Obs.
| c 1320 Cast. Love 1364 Þis is vre child and vre help, Vre strengþe and vre ȝelp. |
II. 2. A cry characteristic of dogs and some other animals, resembling a bark but distinguished from it by being sharp and shrill.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxii. 10 He [sc. a tod] braisit hir [sc. a lamb's] bony body sweit,..Syne schuk his taill, with quhinge and ȝelp. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. i. iii, This laithlie flude..In quhome the fisch ȝelland as eluis schoutit, Thair ȝelpis wilde my heiring all fordeifit. a 1627 Middleton Witch iii. iii, No howles of woolves, no yelpes of hounds. 1681 Crowne Hen. VI, i. ii. 14, I..hear the Howles of Wolves, and Yelpes of Foxes. 1682 J. Flavel Fear 1 Some are as timorous as hares and start at every sound or yelp of a dog. 1801 Southey Thalaba ix. xviii, The dogs, with eager yelp, Are struggling to be free. 1840 Thackeray Barber Cox Mar., After hearing a yelp here, and a howl there, tow, row, yow, yow, yow! bursts out. 1848 ‘F. Forester’ Field Sports II. 325 A sort of pipe or call by which the cry or yelp, as it is termed, of the female [sc. the wild turkey-hen] may be simulated. 1868 Tennyson Lucretius 45 The dog With inward yelp and restless forefoot plies His function of the woodland. 1886 J. K. Jerome Idle Thoughts 129 The watch-dog..wakes with a yelp of gladness to greet a caressing hand. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1775 Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 89 If slavery be thus fatally contagious, how is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes? 1825 Croker Fairy Leg. Irel. i. 48 The whinge, and the yelp, and the screech, and the yowl, was never out of his mouth. 1866 Ballantyne Shifting Winds xxiv, The [engine] driver vented his impatience..by causing the whistle to give three sharp yelps. 1885 J. Runciman Skippers & Shellbacks 241 The yelp of a Norwegian seaman who was hauling on a rope. |
c. The syllable yelp used imitatively.
| 1831–4 R. S. Surtees Jorrocks's Jaunts i. (1838) 10 ‘Yelp, yelp, yelp,’ howl the hounds. 1835 W. Irving Tour Prairies 299 Yelp! yelp! yelp! passed from mouth to mouth. There was a sudden dispersal. |
▪ II. yelp, v.
(jɛlp)
Forms: 1 ᵹielpan, ᵹelpan, ᵹilpan, ᵹylpan, 2–5 ȝelpe, 4–7 yelpe, (3 ȝælpe, ȝeolp, ȝeilp, ȝulp, Orm. ȝellpenn, 4 ȝilpe, 5 yilp, 7 yealp), 3– yelp. pa. tense 1 ᵹealp, pl. ᵹulpon, 3 ȝ(e)alp, yelp, pl. ȝulpe, 4 yalp; 4 ȝolped, 6 yalpid, Sc. ȝelpit, 4– yelped. pa. pple. 1 ᵹolpen, 4 y-yolpe; 4– yelped.
[OE. ᵹielpan, etc., = MHG. gelfen:—*galpjan, f. root represented by OS. galpôn to cry aloud, boast, LG. galpen to croak, MG. galpen to bark, yelp, MHG. galf, MG. galp loud cry, barking, Sw. dial. galpa to cry (of certain birds). Cf. galp, gawp, yalp, yawp.]
I. † 1. intr. To boast, speak vaingloriously. Const. of (= OE. gen.). Obs.
| Beowulf 2583 Hreðsiᵹora ne ᵹealp goldwine Ᵹeata. c 888 ælfred Boeth. xiv. §1 Ᵹif þu ᵹilpan wille, ᵹilp Godes. a 1000 Daniel 714 Ða wearð bliðemod burᵹa aldor, ᵹealp gramlice gode on andan. c 1200 Ormin 2042 Þuss mihhte ȝho full modiȝliȝ Off hire sinne ȝellpenn. a 1225 Ancr. R. 128 [Heo] gelstreð, ase þe uox deð, & ȝelpeð of hore god. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1299 Þu ȝeolpest of seolliche wisdome, Þu nustest wanene he þe come. 1340 Ayenb. 208 Þe fariseu þet yalp ine his benes and onworþede þane pubblycan. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 694 Ne schaltou by þat tyme noþyng ȝilpe of þy doynge here. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1380, I kepe noght of armes for to yelpe, Ne I ne axe nat to-morwe to have victorie. c 1425 Cast. Persev. 2865 in Macro Plays 162 Sum bote of bale þou me brewe, Þat I may of þee ȝelpe. |
† b. refl. in same sense. Obs.
| 1340 Ayenb. 79 Huanne hi ham yelpeþ oþer hi ham prodeþ. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 97 He hath trewly supposed That he him may of nothing yelpe, Bot if [etc.]. |
† c. Const. clause. Obs.
| c 888 ælfred Boeth. xiv. §1 Hwæðer þu dyrre ᵹilpan þæt hiora fæᵹernes þin sie? a 1023 Wulfstan Hom. xvi. (1883) 99 Þa wende he þæt hit godes aᵹen wære; and se deofles man ᵹealp þæt he eac swa wære. c 1205 Lay. 26835 Þu ȝulpe biforen þan kaisere Þat þu me woldest a-quellen. a 1250 Owl & Night. 971 Ac ȝet þu ȝelpst of þine songe Þat þu canst ȝ olle wroþe & stronge. c 1275 Passion of our Lord 330 in O.E. Misc. 46 He yelp to-vore vs alle þat he is vre king. c 1400 Death of Robin Lyth 82 in Ritson Anc. Songs (1877) 74 Now xalt thu never yelpe, Wrennok, At ale ne at wyn, That thu hast slawe goode Robyn. c 1420 Chron. Vilod, 53 Bot how þay deden after, y nylt not ȝelpe. |
II. † 2. To lift up one's voice; to cry aloud; to sing loud or on a high note. Obs.
Cf. the OE. sense (with gen.) ‘to applaud, praise’.
| c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 4697 Gude fadir,..To þe we crye and ȝelpe. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xii. 422 Brek outt youre voce, let se as ye yelp. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 39 The lyntquhit sang cuntirpoint quhen the osȝil ȝelpit. |
† b. trans. To call out, utter. Obs.
| c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 13520 And he myȝt not him selff helpe; His sorwe coude he to no man ȝelpe. |
3. intr. To utter a yelp or yelps: said of dogs and related animals, and certain birds (see quots.).
| 1553 M. Wood tr. Gardiner's True Obed. To Rdr. A v, A rash bethlem brained hound,..rushing he careth not which wai, so he be yelpyng. 1593 Peele Hon. Garter C 3 b, Enuy will bite, or snarle and barke at least, As dogs against the Moone that yelpe in vayne. 1596 W. Smith Chloris xiii, A lust-led Satyre hauing hir in chace Which after hir, about the fields did yelpe. 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 134/2 A Dog Barketh, & Baugheth, being smitten Yelpeth. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 32 Oft does he make the poor Tars yelp and run about, like Dogs in a Church, under the Correction of a Sexton. 1708 Derham in Phil. Trans. XXVI. 124 April 1, the Jynx first yelped here. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 119 ¶5 Compassion once obliged me to..chide off a dog that yelped at his heels. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. vii. (1879) 135 The jaguar, when wandering about at night, is much tormented by the foxes yelping as they follow him. 1847 Tennyson Princess vii. 196 Let the wild Lean-headed Eagles yelp alone. 1848 in ‘F. Forester’ Field Sports II. 326 The gobblers continued yelping in answer to the female, which all this time remained on the fence. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. xi, A scholastic huntsman clad for the field, with his fresh pack yelping and barking around him. 1879 J. Burroughs Locusts & Wild H. (1884) 56 [The fledgling] left the nest and clung to the..tree, and yelped and piped for an hour. |
| fig. 1577 Grange Golden Aphrod. G iv b, To Veronas well he hies whose wante of bloud doth yelpe. 1885 Tennyson Balin & Balan 314 That chain'd rage, which ever yelpt within. |
4. fig. To complain, whine.
| 1706 Hearne Collect. 16 Sept. (O.H.S.) I. 288 'Twill make ye Whig Pamphlettiers yelp. 1792 Alex. Wilson Watty & Meg x, Night and day she's ever yelpin, Wi' the weans she ne'er can gree. 1801 Jefferson Writ. (1830) III. 469 The nominations have accordingly furnished something to yelp on. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. Fleet ii. xx. 167, I might, if I pleased, yelp and cry for my lord and his precious friend, Sir Miles Lackington. |
5. trans. a. To utter with a loud cry; to express by yelping or in a yelping tone.
| a 1654 W. Price in C. Wase Gratius' Cyneget. Illustr. 70 There lurks the pride o' th' woods, the Lyon fell, At whose decease our troops [of hounds] shall yelpe a knell. a 1704 T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. iii. (1709) 17 Another Son of a Whore yelps [ed. 1700 yells] louder than Homer's Stentor, Two a groat, and Four for Six-pence Mackerel. 1828 Examiner 98/1 Lord Ellenborough ‘gave tongue’ on Monday, and yelped an explanation most melodiously. 1865 Parkman Champlain x. (1875) 311 On their arrival, they..yelped consternation at the sharp explosion of the arquebuse. |
b. To bring into some condition by yelping.
| 1711 Budgell Spect. No. 116 ¶6 A raw Dog..might have yelped his Heart out, without being taken notice of. |