Shriek \Shriek\, n. A sharp, shrill outcry or scream; a shrill wild cry such as is caused by sudden or extreme terror, pain, or the like.
Shrieks, clamors, murmurs, fill the frighted town. --Dryden.
{Shriek owl}. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The screech owl. (b) The swift; -- so called from its cry.
Shriek \Shriek\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Shrieked}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Shrieking}.] [OE. shriken, originallythe same word as E. screech. See {Screech}, and cf. {Screak}.] To utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry, as do some birds and beasts; to scream, as in a sudden fright, in horror or anguish.
It was the owl that shrieked. --Shak.
At this she shrieked aloud; the mournful train Echoed her grief. --Dryden.
Shriek \Shriek\, v. t. To utter sharply and shrilly; to utter in or with a shriek or shrieks.
On top whereof aye dwelt the ghostly owl, Shrieking his baleful note. --Spenser.
She shrieked his name To the dark woods. --Moore.
But lately, every new square inch of newly bared brightness provokes a shriek of outrage from a small group of standpatters, mostly non-specialists, who want to keep their Michelangelo in the dark.
Even when Macbeth sees himself in the glass of the last kingly ghost, where fantasy should meet reality, his shriek might sound from a grotesque chamber of horrors as well as from isolation or guilt.
Because the taxes are so well disguised, most people don't notice them. And eagle-eyed tourists who shriek over them don't carry much political clout.
'For a second or two the engine speed increased slowly,' he recalled. 'Then, with a rising shriek, like an air raid siren, the speed began to rise rapidly and large patches of red heat became visible on the combustion chamber casing.