Also 8 tril. [Goes with TRILL v.3; ad. It. trillo, beside triglio, ‘a quaver or warble in singing’ (Florio); so F. † tril, trille.]
1. Mus. a. A tremulous utterance of a note or notes, as a ‘grace’ or ornament: = TREMOLO or VIBRATO. b. A rapid alternation of two notes a degree apart; a shake.
1649. Lovelace, Poems, 120. Far lesse be’t Æmulation To passe me, or in trill or Tone Like the thin throat of Philomel.
1662. Playford, Skill Mus., I. xi. (1674), 47. The Trill … is upon one Note only.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 222, ¶ 10. I … have attributed many of his [a vocal musician’s] Trills and Quavers to the Coldness of the Weather.
1785. Burns, Cotter’s Sat. Night, xiii. The sweetest for of Scotia’s holy lays: Compar’d with these, Italian trills are tame.
1801. Ranken, Hist. France, I. 488. The beats, the trills, the shakes, and accents of the Italians.
1886. Appleton’s Ann. Cycl., XI. 87. This even and continuous roll [of the canary-notes] is as perfect as the trill of any instrument.
2. transf. A tremulous high-pitched sound or succession of notes, esp. in the singing of birds.
a. 1794. T. Brown, Praise Drunkenness, Wks. 1730, I. 37. The Drunkard’s voice is hoarse and manly, not like the squeaking trils of an Eunuch.
1745. Warton, Inscript. Hermitage, ii. Within my limits lone and still The blackbird pipes in artless trill.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. xii. There was quite a fresh trill in his voice.
1884. Mrs. C. Praed, Zéro, iv. There was the trill and full chirrup of the chaffinch.
3. Phonetics. The pronunciation of a consonant, esp. r, with vibration of the tongue or other part of the vocal organs; a consonant so pronounced.
1848. A. J. Ellis, Essentials Phonetics, 50. There may be three trills belonging to this group. Ibid., 51. Persons who are unable to execute the trill.
1867. A. M. Bell, Visible Speech, 55. The sign of ‘trill’ … denotes a vibration of the uvula;… of the point of the tongue;… of the lips.
1877. Sweet, Handbk. Phonetics, § 102. Trills are a special variety of unstopped consonants.
1889. A. J. Ellis, Early Eng. Pronunc., 643. Uvular trill.
