Warble v.¹

Forms: ? 4 werbel, ? 5 -il, 6 warbell, 6– warble. [a. north-eastern OF. werbler, werbloier (Central OF. guerbler, guerbloier; 16th c. in corrupt forms verbloier, verboier, verbier), f. werble WARBLE sb.¹, a. OHG. werbel, recorded only as glossing L. plectrum and sistrum, but prob. used in many other applications of the general sense ‘something that revolves’ (MHG. werbel, wirbel, mod.G. wirbel, whirlpool, whirlwind, spinning-top, vertex of the head, etc.); cogn. w. (M)Du. wervel harp, ON. hvirfill circle, ring, crown of the head, f. OTeut. root *hwerð- to revolve: see WHIRL sb. and v., WHORL.

  The Fr. vb. seems to have primarily referred to the manipulation of the strings of a musical instrument (cf. 5 a below), but was also used for the production of delicate varieties of tone in singing. The sb. werble has only one example in Godefr., where it may mean ‘modulation’ or ‘melody.’ It is not possible to determine with certainty in which of its senses the Ger. sb. was adopted in OF.; perh. in that of ‘plectrum’: perh. in that of ‘tuning-peg’ (so MHG. werbel). Mod.G. has a verb wirbeln to warble.

  In Eng. the existence of the vb. before the 16th c. is doubtful (see the remark under 1 below), though there are several examples of the sb. in the 14th c.]

  † 1.  a. intr. ? To resound. b. trans. ? To proclaim by flourish of trumpets; ? to sound (a trumpet). Obs.

  The identity of the word in quot. 13[?] is uncertain; the sense may be ‘whirling’: In quot. a. 1400–50 the reading and construction are doubtful.

13[?].  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 2004. Þe werbelande wynde wapped fro þe hyȝe, & drof vche dale ful of dryftes ful grete.

a. 1400–50.  Wars Alex., 2222. Now ere his seggis all sett & þe saute neȝis, Were wakens be-twene, werbild in trompis. [Dubl. MS. Were wakned be-twene; werblet trompez.]

  2.  intr. To modulate the voice in singing; to sing with trills and quavers. In later use (influenced by sense 4), to sing softly and sweetly, in a birdlike manner; often merely a jocose substitute for sing.

1530.  Palsgr., 771/2. I warbell with the voyce, as connyng syngers do, Je verbie. It is a worlde to here hym synge, whan he is disposed to warbell.

1594.  Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits, viii. (1596), 114. Children … who haue a good voice, and warble in the throat, are most vntoward for all sciences.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., II. v. 38. Come, warble, come.

1611.  Cotgr., Fredonner, to shake, diuide, warble, quauer in singing.

1811.  Busby, Dict. Mus. (ed. 3), s.v., To warble is to sing in a mode, or manner, imitative of birds. Those soprano performers, whose voices are of a clear, fluted, and shrill tone, and who run divisions with a close and liquid sweetness, are said to warble.

1884.  Mrs. Praed, Zero, xiv. Patti warbled in the theatre.

  quasi-trans. with complement (jocular).

1850.  Thackeray, Pendennis, xliv. She’d sit down and sing to you, and gaze at you, until she warbled your soul out of your body a’most.

  b.  Of music: To sound in quavering, flexible melody; to be produced with free, smooth and rapid modulations of pitch. ? Obs.

1714.  Gay, Sheph. Week, Wed. 3.

a. 1756.  Doddridge, Hymns, ‘Lord of the Sabbath,’ iii. No Groans to mingle with the Songs, Which warble from immortal Tongues.

1808.  Sketches of Character, I. 262. At the same instant, Emily’s sweetest notes warbled in his ear

  c.  poet. Of a small stream: To make melody as it flows. Also of the wind.

1579.  [see WARBLING ppl. a.¹ 1].

1667.  Milton, P. L., III. 31. The flowrie Brooks beneath That wash thy hallowd feet, and warbling flow.

1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Warble … to gargle or purl, as a Brook or Stream.

1728–46.  Thomson, Spring, 399. High to their fount,… amid the hills And woodlands warbling round, trace up the brooks.

1783.  Crabbe, Village, II. 201. As old Thames … Sees his young streams run warbling at his side.

1814.  Southey, Roderick, XVIII. 207. The quiet voice Of waters warbling near.

  d.  U.S. To yodel. (In recent American Dicts.)

1880.  [see WARBLING vbl. sb. c.]

  3.  trans. a. To sing with quavering trills and runs, to utter melodiously, to carol. Also to warble forth, out, over.

1576.  Gascoigne, Philomene (Arb.), 89. And many a note, she warbled wondrous wel.

a. 1593.  Marlowe, Ovid’s Elegies, I. i. 33. Elegian Muse, that warblest amorous laies.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 207. The lookers on incessantly warble out soft trembling Musique.

1693.  Dryden, Juvenal, VI. 98. Softly She Warbles over all she hears.

1754.  Gray, Pleasure, 13. The Sky-lark warbles high His trembling thrilling ecstacy.

1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxv. Emmy … began to warble that stanza from the favourite song of ‘Wapping Old Stairs.’

1854.  Poultry Chron., II. 118/1. Again, we have that pretty songster … warbling forth its melodious song, the Canary.

1868.  Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women, xii. Ned, getting sentimental, warbled a serenade.

  b.  To express or celebrate in song or verse. Also with forth, † out.

1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. i. 18. O Father, grant I sweetly warble forth Vnto our seed the World’s renowned Birth.

1623.  Milton, Ps. cxxxvi., 89. Let us therfore warble forth His mighty Majesty and worth.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 7. The Riuer Læthe so warbled out by Poets.

1725.  Pope, Odyss., I. 446. Warbling the Grecian woes with harp and voice.

1750.  Johnson, Rambler, No. 109, ¶ 2. You … warble out your groans with uncommon elegance.

1868.  Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women, ii. Having warbled his thanks … Hugo departed.

1875.  Tennyson, Q. Mary, III. vi. Or would you have me turn a sonneteer, And warble those brief-sighted eyes of hers?

  4.  intr. † a. To twitter, as a young bird; to make uncertain attempts at singing. Also fig. Obs.

1605.  Bp. Andrewes, Serm. (Heb. ii. 16) (1629), 8. It brought forth a Benedictus, and a Magnificat, from the true seed of Abraham; If it do not the like, from us, certainely it but flotes in our braines; we but warble about it.

1611.  Cotgr., Gazouiller,… to warble, as a young bird when it first begins, or learnes, to sing.

  b.  Of birds: To sing clearly and sweetly.

1606.  Warner, Alb. Eng., XIV. lxxxii. (1612), 343. No birds were heard to warble.

1667.  Milton, P. L., VIII. 265. Birds on the branches warbling.

1732.  Pope, Ess. Man, I. 216. The life … which warbles thro’ the vernal wood.

1750.  Gray, Elegy (Pembroke text), 119. The Red-breast loves to build, & warble there.

1859.  Capern, Ballads & Songs, 138. When thrushes warble in the elm tree’s crown.

  5.  † a. trans. To manipulate (the strings of a musical instrument) in playing. Obs.

1578.  H. Wotton, Courtlie Controv., 285. Then hee tooke his Lute, and warbling the strings with tenne thousand delicate diuisions, hee beganne to saye [etc.].

1638.  Junius, Paint. Ancients, 297. The left [hand] … did with divided fingers warble the strings.

  † b.  intr. Of a stringed instrument: To give forth melodious sounds. Obs.

1620.  T. Granger, Div. Logike, 66. The Harpe warbleth.

1794.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xv. The while we chant our ditties sweet To some soft shell that warbles near.

  † c.  To play upon as upon strings. Obs.

c. 1640.  J. Smyth, Lives Berkeleys (1883), I. 371. Upon which stringe I have already warbled in the ill harmony of the six last lords lives.

a. 1677.  Barrow, Serm., Wks. 1686, III. 107. New objects with a gentle and gratefull touch warble upon the corporeal organs, or excite the spirits into a pleasant frisk of motion.

  d.  Sc. ‘To play the quicker measures of a piece of bagpipe music, in which there are a large number of grace-notes’ (Eng. Dial. Dict.)