trill

Word family

trill1 /trɪl/ verb [intransitiveI, transitiveT]

1 SINGSOUNDto make a short repeated high sound 发出短促重复的高音；发出（颤音）

birds trilling in the trees

在树林里啼啭的鸟儿

The phone trilled sharply.

电话铃丁零零地响着。

2 HIGH SOUND OR VOICEto say something in a high happy voice that sounds slightly false 欢快地说（话）

‘Have a nice time, darling, ’ she trilled.

“玩得开心点，亲爱的。”她欢声说道。

Examples from the Corpus

trill• At five o'clock the phone set on the tailgate of the Range Rover trilled.• In the brush warblers and finches are trilling again; raspberries glisten; the gulls are laughing.• Two hours later I was woken by men whistling, clicking, trilling and hooting their music to the flocks.• The phone on Sam McCready's desk trilled at midday.• The bird had stopped tick-ticking and was trilling away cheerfully.• Johnson was reading a local newspaper he had bought at the Frankenwald service station when his phone trilled discreetly.• A mockingbird trilled from atop a telephone pole.• The telephones in Sly's office complex did not trill, they rang.

Related topics: Music, Birds

trill2 noun [countableC]

1. technicalAPM a musical sound made by quickly moving between two notes 〔音乐的〕颤音

2 HBBSOUNDa short repeated high sound 短促重复的响声；〔鸟的〕啼啭，唧唧啾啾

the trill of blackbirds

乌鸫的啼啭声

Examples from the Corpus

trill• A trill of song from somewhere outside the trench.• From behind the curtain the tuning-up sounds, trumpet runs, and flute trills, were becoming more clamorous.• From within, I catch the trill of a Pogues song.

Origin trill2

(1600-1700) Italian trillo, from trillare “to trill”, probably from Dutch trillen “to shake very quickly”

trill1 verbtrill2 noun

Chinese

Corpus