▪ I. skrike, n. Now only dial.: see Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. Scrike.
(skraɪk)
For forms see the vb.
[f. skrike v. Cf. screak n.]
1. A shrill cry, a screech; = screak n.
| 13.. Coer de L. 4709 The Crystene men gunne make a scryke: Anon they wunnen ovyr the dyke. c 1400 Destr. Troy 910 A wonderfull noyse Skremyt vp to the skrow with a skryke ffelle. c 1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 491 A grete scryke up he nam. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems, Fenȝeit Freir 97 The ja him skrippit with a skryke. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par., Mark xv. 37 Jesus..gaue a great skryke, and therwith yelded vp the ghost. 1631 Celestina xix. 190 You will haue mee fill my Fathers house with cryes and skrikes. 1891 Atkinson Last of Giant-Killers 107 The savagest scrike ever uttered by a raving giant. |
2. skrike of day, the dawn. Cf. screak n. 3.
| 1746 Collier (Tim Bobbin) View Lanc. Dial. Wks. (1862) 41, I geet up be skrike o Dey. 1866 J. E. Brogden Prov. Lincs. |
▪ II. skrike, v. Now only dial.: see Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. Scrike.
(skraɪk)
Forms: 4–6 scryke, skryke, 4–7, 8–9 dial. scrike, skrike; pa. tense 4 skryȝte.
[Prob. of Scandinavian origin: cf. Norw. skrika (str. vb.), Da. skrige. See also shriek.]
1. intr. To utter a shrill harsh cry; = screak v. 1.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 7347 Þe devils ay omang on þam salle stryke, And þe synfulle þare-with ay cry and skryke. c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 744 Senge braie, Ape scrikith. c 1380 Sir Ferumbr. 1609 Loude þay cryede & skryȝte an hye: ‘Mahoun wat is þy red?’ c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 1671 He woke w{supt} þat & scrykede for fere. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. 129 (Douce MS.) Þe birdes in þe bowes, Þat one þe goost glowes, Þei skryke [Ireland scryken] in þe skowes. c 1460 Towneley Myst. iii. 232 For all if she stryke, yit fast will she skryke. 1590 Greene Never too late (1600) 98 Hee is such a sneaking fellowe, that..touch him and he will scrike. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. iv. 18 The litle babe did loudly scrike and squall. a 1600 Flodden Field i. (1664) 8 Their names make..children skrike. |
2. To weep, cry.
| 1905 Eng. Dial. Dict. V. s.v., Hoo skrite't so when hur mother deed I thow't hoo'd ne'er ha done. Ibid., I can tell by yur een as yo'n bin skrikin'. 1977 P. Carter Under Goliath xxvi. 142, I stood there..skriking my eyes out like a mammy's boy... I really cried my eyes out in the loft. 1978 Lancashire Life Apr. 42/3 Second un poor little soul Did nuthin' else but skrike. |
Hence ˈskriking vbl. n. and ppl. a.; ˈskriker, one who skrikes.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 7352 Þare salle be swilk rareyng and ruschyng..And skrykyng of synfulle. c 1400 Destr. Troy 10182 The skrew for þe skrykyng & skremyng of folke, Redoundet with dyn drede for to here. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 450/2 Scrykynge, of chyldyr, vagitus. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 112 Notwithstanding his pitifull lamentation and skrikings. 1631 R. Bolton Comf. Affl. Consc. (1640) 241 They shall never more be heard, though with much violence they throw their scrikings into the Aire. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ix. 401 A scriking noyse, as if it had beene the chirking of Frogs. 1891 Atkinson Last of Giant-Killers 149 Others used to call it the ‘Scriker’ because of the awful scrikes (shrieks) it uttered. 1937 J. R. R. Tolkien Hobbit iv. 76 The yells and yammering, croaking, jibbering and jabbering; howls, growls and curses; shrieking and skriking, that followed were beyond description. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. x. 186 In the area of Blackburn, Bolton, Manchester, Stockport, and Halifax the term ‘skriking’ [sc. for ‘crying’] is common, the noun being ‘skriker’. |