vbl. sb. [f. YOWL v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb YOWL; esp. the uttering of a prolonged wailing cry.
a. 1225. Juliana, 57. Ȝe, quoð eleusius, haldest tu ȝetten up o þi zuhelunge?
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 40. Me luste bet speten þane singe Of þine fule ȝoȝelinge [Jesus MS. howelynge]. Ibid., 1643. Mid ȝulinge & mid igrede.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xxvii. 38. With a greet ȝowlyng [1388 ȝellyng; Vulg. ejulatu] he wepte.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 179. He vanysshid away with grete crying & yowlyng.
1528. Lyndesay, Dreme, 165. Ȝowtyng and ȝowlyng we hard, with mony ȝell.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 466. The water … strangled and swallowed vp my breath from youling and groaning.
1710. Acc. Last Distemper of Tom Whigg, I. 19. He … set all the Dogs in the Town a yowling.
1844. Thackeray, White Squall, vi. Then the wind set up a howling, And the poodle dog a yowling.
1894. W. Clark Russell, Good Ship ‘Mohock,’ vii. The hoarse yowling of pulling and dragging sailors.
So Yowling ppl. a., that yowls.
c. 1590. W. Fowler, Wks. (S.T.S.), I. 193/11. All thir cold nights … I wishe for day,… disturb’d with youling hounds.
1790. Alex. Wilson, Callamphitres Elegy, Poet. Wks. (1846), 104. Wi’ yowling clinch auld Jennock ran.
1843. Thackeray, Men’s Wives, Mr. & Mrs. Berry, ii. Her little yowling black-muzzled darling of a Fido.
1899. Baring-Gould, Furze Bloom, iii. 33. Think what it ’ud be wi’ two yowlin’ females under one roof!
