screamer
(ˈskriːmə(r))
[f. scream v. + -er1.]
1. One who screams; one who sings in shrill piercing tones.
| 1712 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 15 Nov., She must have been tortured with the noise of the Grub Street screamers mentioning her husband's murder to her ears. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxvi, The screamer aforesaid, who added good features and bright eyes to the powers of her lungs. 1830 Cunningham Brit. Painters I. 208 An age which lavished its tens of thousands..on Italian screamers. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 223/2 The ballad singers—or street screamers, as we calls 'em. |
2. An animal that utters a cry like a scream.
| 1801 Southey Thalaba iii. xxxix, Forth from her shadowy haunt Flies the large-headed screamer of the night. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxvii, These tiresome screamers of the morass [the lapwing and curlew]. 1892 W. H. Hudson Naturalist in La Plata i. 15 At night when camping out I have heard its [the aguará's] dismal screams, but the screamer was sought in vain. |
3. spec. a. A name for the birds of the S. American family Palamedeidæ; esp. the kamichi or Horned Screamer, and Chauna chavaria, the Crested Screamer.
The name Crested Screamer is also given to the Seriema or Cariama (Palamedea cristata Linn., Dicholophus cristatus Illiger) of Brazil.
| 1773 Pennant Genera of Birds 43 Palamedea of Linnæus, Anhima and Cariama of Brisson... I call it Screamer, from the violent noise it makes. Only two species. 1785 Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds III. i. 18 Horned Scr[eamer]. Palamedea cornuta Lin. Ibid. 20 Crested Scr[eamer]. Palamedea cristata Lin. 1869–73 T. R. Jones Cassell's Bk. Birds IV. 91 The Brazilian Cariama, or Crested Screamer (Dicholophus cristatus). Ibid. 95 The Screamers (Palamedeæ) constitute a group of strange birds. Ibid. 96 The Aniuma or Horned Screamer (Palamedea cornuta) is characterised by a horn upon the brow. 1892 W. H. Hudson Naturalist in La Plata i. 20 The spur-winged crested screamer; a noble bird as large as a swan. |
b. A local name for the swift.
| 1813 Montagu Ornith. Dict. Suppl. 1852 F. O. Morris Brit. Birds II. 75. |
4. slang. a. A person, animal, or thing of exceptional size, attractiveness, etc.; a splendid specimen; e.g. a well-grown or beautiful female; a ‘heavy swell’; a large fish; a large sum of money. slang.
| 1837 A. Greene Glance at New York (Bartlett 1860), The folks are all waiting to see the fast steamer..; Ah, here she is now; sir, ain't she a screamer? 1846 Mrs. Kirkland West. Clearings 44 ‘But she's a screamer of a girl,’ persisted Master George; ‘I'd rather have her than all the rest.’ 1850 Smedley Frank Fairleigh xiii, Well, you are a screamer, and no mistake,..Be merciful towards the ladies. 1853 G. J. Whyte-Melville Digby Grand xx, I am in for a ‘screamer’, and the bill for which I am arrested is only a ruse to prevent my leaving England. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxxvi, I..lost one screamer just up the back ditch there. He must have been a four-pounder. |
b. A composition of a startling or exaggerated character; e.g. a thrilling or funny story, a ‘screaming’ farce. Also, a person who tells exaggerated stories.
| 1831 Louisville Public Advertiser 17 Oct. 2/3 The principal character in this production, is, to use his own elegant language, a screamer. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xvi, A peculiar style of broad⁓side-essay called ‘a screamer’. 1849 Theatrical Programme 4 June 16/1 At the Adelphi crowds muster nightly to see..Wright and Bedford in a ‘screamer’. 1849 Alb. Smith Pottleton Legacy xxiii. 234 ‘Stranger,’ said the man..‘you are a screamer!’ 1854 Househ. Words VIII. 77 Actors speak of such and such a farce being a ‘screamer’. 1872 ‘Mark Twain’ (title) Screamers; a gathering of scraps of humour, delicious bits, and short stories. 1888 in Echoes fr. Oxf. Mag. (1890) 111 And I'll write you a regular screamer If you dare to come up in the Long. |
c. An exclamation mark.
| 1895 in Funk's Stand. Dict. 1908 Bohemian XIV. 643/2 Few of us have forgotten..the origin of ‘yellow’ as descriptive of that class of journalism addicted to ‘screamers’. 1927 Amer. Speech II. 239 Exclamation points may be ‘screamers’, ‘astonishers’, or ‘shouts’. 1933 D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise viii. 132 ‘Waste Nerve-Power!’ Capital N, capital P, and screamer. Got that? 1960 Guardian 17 Sept. 12/6 Some newspapermen call the ! a screamer. 1972 Ibid. 18 Aug. 11/1, I once worked for an editor who cut out all the screamers—that's what you and I call exclamation marks. |
d. A very powerful shot in a game.
| 1896 W. Park Game of Golf 269 Screamer, a very long stroke, so called from the whistling noise made by the ball. 1926 Wodehouse Heart of Goof i. 13 He stepped off the sixteenth, after hitting a screamer down the centre of the fairway. 1959 Sunday Times 9 Aug. 28 (Advt.), When you hit a screamer..you'll be glad you played Slazenger 279. 1963 V. Canning Limbo Line xvii. 227 Amadeo hit a screamer, dead straight and slightly left of the middle of the fairway. 1977 Tennis World Sept. 17/1 A ‘heavy serve’, one might think, means a fast serve. Wrong again. The term to denote velocity is ‘big’ or occasionally ‘cannonball’ or ‘screamer’. |
e. An informer, a tale-teller; a complainer.
| 1903 Farmer & Henley Slang VI. 126 Screamer,..a thief who, robbed by another thief, applies to the police. 1961 John o' London's 30 Nov. 610/3 An informer..is now more often referred to..as a singer or a screamer. 1968 Telegraph (Brisbane) 19 June 58/7 The man I was talking to said, ‘Hang on a minute, I've got a screamer coming in.’ When he came back I asked him what a screamer was. It turned out to be someone who complains about defects in a car he has bought. |
f. In full screamer headline. A large headline.
| 1926 [see rap v.1 1 d]. 1945 L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 17/1 Screamers, newspaper headlines. 1975 New Yorker 4 Aug. 20/1 ‘Gifts flow profusely at 124 West 42nd St. and 625 Madison Ave’ was the screamer on a flyer handed to us on Forty-second. 1979 J. Drummond I saw him Die ii. 24 The murder was on the front page. Screamer headline. |
g. Jazz. A passage featuring loud high notes played on a wind instrument; such a note.
| 1940 Swing Nov. 28 It's another riff tune..plus (or minus) a screamer featuring the leader's horn. 1948 Down Beat 1 Dec. 13 Minor is a screamer but not without change of pace. 1958 K. Goodwin in P. Gammond Decca Bk. of Jazz xiii. 149 His ability to produce stratospheric screamers with apparent ease was utilized to add bite and drive to the brass sections. |
h. A bomb that makes a screaming sound as it drops.
| 1942 ‘R. Crompton’ William carries On ii. 42 Her reactions to ‘screamers’. 1943 Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 57 Screamer, a whistling bomb, i.e. a bomb with a device attached to cause a screaming sound as it descends. |
i. the screamers = the screaming habdabs s.v. habdabs.
| 1948 Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 163 Screamers, the, an evident dislike of operational flying. 1952 M. Tripp Faith is Windsock i. 17 ‘Cut it out, you two,’ said Bergen, ‘you give me the screamers.’ |
j. two-pot screamer, one who easily shows the effects of alcohol. Austral.
| 1959 D. Hewett Bobbin Up 21 Look at Lou. She's a two pot screamer, always 'as been. 1972 J. de Hoog Skid Row Dossier 95 It says experienced and sober, ya bloody two-pot screamer. |