Meaning

noun a very loud utterance (like the sound of an animal)

verb cry loudly, as of animals

verb utter shrieks, as of cats

originFrom Middle English youlen, goulen, from Old Norse gaula (“to low, bellow, howl, scream”), related to Icelandic gaula (“to yell, howl, roar”), Faroese geyla (“to bawl, squall, shout, yell, bellow”), Norwegian gaule (“to roar, howl, whine, weep noisily”), dialectal Swedish gjöla, Scots gowl (“to howl, yell, roar”), Shetlandic Scots gjol. Initial y- possibly influenced by Middle English yollen,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0