Word.ws English Dictionary

warble

UK/ˈwɔːbl̩//ˈwɔɹbl̩/

warble verb: to modulate a tone's frequency.

Verb

warble (third-person singular simple present warbles, present participle warbling, simple past and past participle warbled)

  1. (transitive) To modulate a tone's frequency.
    Synonyms:
    trill
  2. (transitive) To sing like a bird, especially with trills.
    • Her voice more sweet than warbling sound,
      Tho’ sung by nightingale or lark,
      Her eyes such lustre dart around,
      Compar’d to them the sun is dark.a. 1722, Matthew Prior, “Non Pareil”, in H. Bunker Wright, Monroe K. Spears, editors, The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, Second edition, volume I, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1971, page 683
    • In the swamp in secluded recesses, / A shy and hidden bird is warbling a song.1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems
  3. (transitive) To cause to quaver or vibrate.
    • touch the warbled string1634, John Milton, “Arcades”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC
  4. (intransitive) To be quavered or modulated; to be uttered melodiously.
    • The wailings of a maiden I recite, / A maiden fair, that Sparabella hight. / Such ſtrains ne'er warble in the linnet's throat, / Nor the gay goldfinch chaunts ſo ſweet a note, [...]1714, J[ohn] Gay, “Wednesday; or, The Dumps”, in The Shepherd’s Week. In Six Pastorals, London: […] R. Burleigh […], →OCLC, page 21

Noun (1)

warble (countable and uncountable, plural warbles)

  1. The sound of one who warbles; singing with trills or modulations.
    • The blackbirds and robins and and^([sic]) tits and finches shout at each other, chups and warbles and chirrups that, loosely translated, mean “Fancy a shag?”, “Get OFF my land” or “I’ve got a great big tonker.”2015 April 16, Richard P. Grant, “Sex and the successful fundraiser”, in The Guardian
  2. In naval mine warfare, the process of varying the frequency of sound produced by a narrowband noisemaker to ensure that the frequency to which the mine will respond is covered.

Noun (2)

warble (plural warbles)

  1. A lesion under the skin of cattle, caused by the larva of a bot fly of genus Hypoderma.
  2. A small hard swelling on a horse's back, caused by the galling of the saddle.

warble meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam

warble in Hindi

to warble, sing , chirp, whistle
चहकना cahaknā

warble in Tamil

அதிர்குரலில் இனிமையாகப் பாடு, சீட்டியடி, முரலு, மகிழ்ச்சியாகப் பாடிக் களி

warble in Urdu

آبلہ, چھالہ, چہچہانا

warble in Malayalam

പക്ഷികൾ പാടുക, രാഗാലാപനം ചെയ്യുക, കവിതയാക്കി പാടുക
More languagesFewer languages
warble in Kannada
ಹಕ್ಕಿಯಂತೆ ಹಾಡು, ಅದಿರುಲಿ

Synonyms of warble

Forms of warble

Verb
third-person singular presentwarbles
present participlewarbling
past participlewarbled
pastwarbled
Noun
pluralwarbles

Past tense of warble: warbled

Origin of warble

Perhaps onomatopoeic.

From Middle English werble (at least for the noun), from Frankish *werbel (mole cricket), cognate to Walloon waerbea.

Words formed from warble

Phrases with warble

Questions about warble

What does warble mean?
Warble means to modulate a tone's frequency.
What is warble in Hindi?
Warble in Hindi is चहकना (cahaknā). See Warble meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is warble?
Warble can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce warble?
Warble is pronounced /ˈwɔɹbl̩/ (US).
What is the past tense of warble?
The past tense of warble is warbled.

Words near warble in the dictionary

  1. warbiest
  2. warbird
  3. warbirds
  4. warblade
  5. warblades
  6. warble
  7. warble flies
  8. warble fly
  9. warbled
  10. warbleflies
  11. warblefly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: warble (page history and authors); चहकना (Hindi) (page history and authors); warble (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); warble (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); warble (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); warble (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-warble.ogg, en-au-warble.ogg.

Cite this entry: “warble.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/warble. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.