Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Trill
Trill
,Verb.
 I.
 [OE. 
trillen 
to roll, turn round; of Scand. origin; cf. Sw. trilla 
to roll, Dan. trilde
, Icel. þyrla 
to whirl, and E. thrill
. Cf. Thrill
.] To flow in a small stream, or in drops rapidly succeeding each other; to trickle. 
Sir W. Scott.
 And now and then an ample tear 
Her delicate cheek.
trilled 
downHer delicate cheek.
Shakespeare
Whispered sounds
Of waters,
 Of waters,
trilling 
from the riven stone. Glover.
Trill
,Verb.
 T.
 [OE. 
trillen
; cf. Sw. trilla 
to roll.] To turn round; to twirl. 
[Obs.] 
Gascoigne.
 Bid him descend and 
 trill 
another pin. Chaucer.
Trill
,Verb.
 T.
 [
imp. & p. p. 
Trilled
; p. pr. & vb. n. 
Trilling
.] [It. 
trillare
; probably of imitative origin.] To impart the quality of a trill to; to utter as, or with, a trill; 
as, to 
 trill 
the r; to trill 
a note.The sober-suited songstress 
 trills 
her lay. Thomson.
Trill
,Verb.
 I.
 To utter trills or a trill; to play or sing in tremulous vibrations of sound; to have a trembling sound; to quaver. 
To judge of 
 trilling 
notes and tripping feet. Dryden.
1. 
A sound, of consonantal character, made with a rapid succession of partial or entire intermissions, by the vibration of some one part of the organs in the mouth – tongue, uvula, epiglottis, or lip – against another part; 
as, the 
. r 
is a trill 
in most languages2. 
The action of the organs in producing such sounds; 
as, to give a 
. d trill 
to the tongue3. 
(Mus.) 
A shake or quaver of the voice in singing, or of the sound of an instrument, produced by the rapid alternation of two contiguous tones of the scale; 
as, to give a 
. See trill 
on the high CShake
. Webster 1828 Edition
Trill
TRILL
,Noun.
  TRILL
,Verb.
T.
   The sober-suited songstress trills her lay.
TRILL
,Verb.
I.
   And now and then an ample tear trill'd down
 Her delicate cheek.
1.
  To shake or quaver; to play in tremulous vibrations of sound. To judge of trilling notes and tripping feet.
Definition 2025
trill
trill
English
Noun
trill (plural trills)
- (music) A rapid alternation between an indicated note and the one above it, in musical notation usually indicated with the letters tr written above the staff.
 - (phonetics) A type of consonantal sound that is produced by vibrations of the tongue against the place of articulation, for example, Spanish rr.
 
Derived terms
Translations
rapid alternation of notes
vibrating consonant
  | 
Verb
trill (third-person singular simple present trills, present participle trilling, simple past and past participle trilled)
-  (intransitive) To create a trill sound; to utter trills or a trill; to play or sing in tremulous vibrations of sound; to have a trembling sound; to quaver.
-  Dryden
- To judge of trilling notes and tripping feet.
 
 
 -  Dryden
 -  (transitive) To impart the quality of a trill to; to utter as, or with, a trill.
- to trill a note, or the letter r
 
-  Thomson
- The sober-suited songstress trills her lay.
 
 
 -  (intransitive, obsolete) To trickle.
-  1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.30:
- I come now from seeing of a shepheard at Medoc […] who had no signe at all of genitorie parts: But where they should be, are three little holes, by which his water doth continually tril from him.
 
 -  Shakespeare
- And now and then an ample tear trilled down / Her delicate cheek.
 
 -  Glover
- Whispered sounds / Of waters, trilling from the riven stone.
 
 
 -  1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.30:
 
Translations
to make a tremulous sound
  | 
Derived terms
Albanian
Noun
trill ? (indefinite plural trillime, definite singular trilli, definite plural trillimet)