▪ I. mewl, n.
(mjuːl)
[f. mewl v.]
= mew n.3
| 1857 A. Marsh Rose of Ashurst I. iii. 95 A woman's voice and a baby's mewl were heard. |
▪ II. mewl, v.
(mjuːl)
Also 9 mule.
[Echoic; cf. miaul v.]
intr. a. To cry feebly, whimper, like an infant; to make a whining noise. Also trans. with out. b. To mew like a cat.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 144 The Infant, Mewling, and puking in the Nurses armes. 1611 Cotgr., Miauler, to mewle, or mew, like a cat. 1818 Hazlitt Eng. Poets vi. (1870) 151 Gargantua mewls, and pules, and slabbers his nurse. 1819 Moore Mem. (1853) III. 91 It [the music] was squalled and mewled out by Madames Branchia and Albert. 1861 Crt. Life at Naples II. 204 He would bid her dry her eyes, and not be puling and muling like a baby. 1882 P. Fitzgerald Recreat. Lit. Man II. xvii. 95 [A dog] growling, snarling, and even mewling with rage. |
Hence ˈmewling vbl. n. and ppl. a. Also ˈmewler.
| 1611 Cotgr., Miaulement, a mewling, or mewing. Ibid. Miauleur, a mewler, or mewer. 1755 Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 67 The mewling of the cats. 1831 Moore Mem. (1854) VI. 210 His enharmonics like the mewlings of an expiring cat. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxviii, You mewling, white-faced cat! |