Makes loud, wailing, or howling sounds, especially when distressed or in pain.
From Middle English 'youlen,' imitative of the sound itself. Related to 'yowl' which appears in Scottish and Northern English dialects for crying out loudly.
Yowl is almost pure onomatopoeia—the word itself sounds like a cat in distress or a ghost wailing. Many animal sounds in English (meow, hiss, growl) are human attempts to capture animal sounds!
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