Screech \Screech\ (skr[=e]ch), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Screeched}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Screeching}.] [Also formerly, scritch, OE. skriken, skrichen, schriken, of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. skr[ae]kja to shriek, to screech, skr[imac]kja to titter, Sw. skrika to shriek, Dan. skrige; also Gael. sgreach, sgreuch, W. ysgrechio, Skr. kharj to creak. Cf. {Shriek}, v., {Scream}, v.] To utter a harsh, shrill cry; to make a sharp outcry, as in terror or acute pain; to scream; to shriek. ``The screech owl, screeching loud.'' --Shak.
Screech \Screech\, n. A harsh, shrill cry, as of one in acute pain or in fright; a shriek; a scream.
{Screech bird}, or {Screech thrush} (Zo["o]l.), the fieldfare; -- so called from its harsh cry before rain.
{Screech rain}.
{Screech hawk} (Zo["o]l.), the European goatsucker; -- so called from its note. [Prov. Eng.]
{Screech owl}. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A small American owl ({Scops asio}), either gray or reddish in color. (b) The European barn owl. The name is applied also to other species.
There, in the din of baying dogs and mewling cats, one can occasionally hear a hiss, screech or roar more common to the wilds of the Amazon or deepest Africa.
Mark Conrad, a store clerk, said he ran out to help upon hearing the screech of the cars and an explosion.
The harangues turn shrill occasionally, but the star can pull out of a downward screech before it stops the show cold.
New Yorkers may not have heard the news over the screech of subway trains, the boom of oversize car stereos and the wail of firetruck sirens, but the nation's noisiest city is getting even LOUDER.
Teenagers screech, scream, wave flags and constantly blow airhorns handed out in the dozens by campaign staffers.
"Ho-hum," respond the candidates, who would rather screech about their opponents' bank statements.
Mr. McKeown described the terrifying sound of incoming artillery: "an unholy screech that comes out of the sky, like a pick-up truck dropped from the Empire State Building."
A broken coupling on a roller coaster made the ride screech to a halt in the middle of a loop and trapped 20 people upside down for more than an hour, less than a week after it passed an inspection, an official said Sunday.