SQUAWK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does squawk mean? 

• SQUAWK (noun)
  The noun SQUAWK has 2 senses:

1. the noise of squawking

2. informal terms for objecting

  Familiarity information: SQUAWK used as a noun is rare.

• SQUAWK (verb)
  The verb SQUAWK has 2 senses:

1. utter a harsh abrupt scream

2. complain

  Familiarity information: SQUAWK used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SQUAWK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The noise of squawking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Context example:

the squawk of car horns

Hypernyms ("squawk" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Derivation:

squawk (utter a harsh abrupt scream)

squawky (like the cackles or squawks a hen makes especially after laying an egg)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Informal terms for objecting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

beef; bitch; gripe; kick; squawk

Context example:

I have a gripe about the service here

Hypernyms ("squawk" is a kind of...):

objection (the speech act of objecting)

Derivation:

squawk (complain)

• SQUAWK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they squawk    ... he / she / it squawks   
Past simple: squawked   
Past participle: squawked   
-ing form: squawking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Utter a harsh abrupt scream

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

screak; screech; skreak; skreigh; squawk

Hypernyms (to "squawk" is one way to...):

call; cry; holler; hollo; scream; shout; shout out; squall; yell (utter a sudden loud cry)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

squawk (the noise of squawking)

squawker (a person given to excessive complaints and crying and whining)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Complain

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

beef; bellyache; bitch; crab; gripe; grouse; holler; squawk

Context example:

What was he hollering about?

Hypernyms (to "squawk" is one way to...):

complain; kick; kvetch; plain; quetch; sound off (express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

squawk (informal terms for objecting)

squawker (a person given to excessive complaints and crying and whining)

 Context examples 

The debris had been a caribou calf an hour before, squawking and running and very much alive.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

A couple of bounds, a flash of teeth and a frightened squawk, and he had scooped in the adventurous fowl.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Throughout the night he heard the cough of the sick wolf, and now and then the squawking of the caribou calves.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

But the cub saw, and it was a warning and a lesson to him—the swift downward swoop of the hawk, the short skim of its body just above the ground, the strike of its talons in the body of the ptarmigan, the ptarmigan's squawk of agony and fright, and the hawk's rush upward into the blue, carrying the ptarmigan away with it

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Afar off he heard the squawking of caribou calves.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

There was a long silence on the other end of the wire, followed by an exclamation . . . then a quick squawk as the connection was broken.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)