Forms: 4–6 ȝell, 5 ȝelle, yelle, 6–7 yel, 6– yell. [Earlier iȝel (Lay., 17799); f. YELL v.] An act of yelling; a sharp loud outcry, such as is described s.v. YELL v. 1.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, vi. (Thomas), 659. Þan al þe prestis gef a ȝell, As þai had bene fendis of hell.
c. 1400. Anturs Arth., vii. Ȝauland ful ȝamerly, with mony loude ȝelles.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1570), 122. One woman chiding maketh greater yell Than should an hundred pyes in one cage.
1572. Satir. Poems Reform., xxxii. 79. Than cryit my bairnis with mony ȝout and ȝell.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. i. 75. Rodo. … Ile call aloud. Iago. Doe, with like timerous accent, and dire yell, As when (by Night and Negligence) the Fire Is spied in populus Citties.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 25, ¶ 7. The yell of inarticulate distress.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 420. The patient ox, with stripes and yells Driv’n to the slaughter.
1816. Byron, Siege of Corinth, xxviii. Fearfully the yell arose Of his followers, and his foes; These in joy, in fury those.
1827. Scott, Chron. Canongate, v. Janet gave three skips on the floor, and uttered as many short shrill yells of joy.
1841. J. F. Cooper, Deerslayer, xix. Once or iwice the Indian yell was given.
1850. Prescott, Peru, II. 212. Closely followed by the victorious enemy, who celebrated their success with songs or rather yells of triumph.
1855. Tennyson, Maud, I. I. x. The vitriol madness flushes up in the ruffian’s head, Till the filthy by-lane rings to the yell of the trampled wife.
b. Of animals.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Aug., 178. As my cryes … You heare all night,… so let your yrksome yells augment.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 688. Sometime he [sc. a hare] runnes … where earth-deluing Conies keepe, To stop the loud pursuers [sc. hounds] in their yell.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, III. 550. The loud yell of watry Wolves to hear.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. iii. 26. Marmots … with yells of terror scattered themselves among the rocks.
1862. Burton, Bk. Hunter (1863), 45. The terrific yells of that cursed biped [sc. a peacock].
c. An outcry in writing, e.g., in a newspaper.
1853. Bp. Wilberforce, in R. G. Wilberforce, Life (1881), II. v. 210. Once let such a course be begun, and though the yell of ‘The Record’ will be with you, it will be impossible to halt there.
1887. Spectator, 4 June, 759/1. This, from the United Irishman, is of course a mere yell, not to be taken seriously.
d. A cry consisting of a set of words or syllables shouted on certain occasions, as by American college students.
18[?]. St. Nicholas, XVII. 837 (Cent. Dict.). The young men … are giving the mountain calls or yells—cries adopted according to the well-known college custom.
1913. Spectator, 8 March, 386/1. The undergraduates of Princeton and Virginia University … acclaimed their academic head … with their characteristic college yells.
