-trill-

v. t. [ OE. trillen; cf. Sw. trilla to roll. ] To turn round; to twirl. [ Obs. ] Gascoigne. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bid him descend and trill another pin. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Trilled p. pr. & vb. n. Trilling. ] [ It. trillare; probably of imitative origin. ] To impart the quality of a trill to; to utter as, or with, a trill; as, to trill the r; to trill a note. [ 1913 Webster ]

The sober-suited songstress trills her lay. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To utter trills or a trill; to play or sing in tremulous vibrations of sound; to have a trembling sound; to quaver. [ 1913 Webster ]

To judge of trilling notes and tripping feet. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ It. trillo, fr. trillare. See Trill to shake. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A sound, of consonantal character, made with a rapid succession of partial or entire intermissions, by the vibration of some one part of the organs in the mouth -- tongue, uvula, epiglottis, or lip -- against another part; as, the r is a trill in most languages. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The action of the organs in producing such sounds; as, to give a trill to the tongue. d [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mus.) A shake or quaver of the voice in singing, or of the sound of an instrument, produced by the rapid alternation of two contiguous tones of the scale; as, to give a trill on the high C. See Shake. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The oyster catcher. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. G. drilling. ] 1. One of tree children born at the same birth. Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Crystallog.) A compound crystal, consisting of three individuals. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. trillion, formed from the pref. tri- in imitation of million a million. Cf. Billion. ] According to the French notation, which is used upon the Continent generally and in the United States, the number expressed by a unit with twelve ciphers annexed; a million millions; according to the English notation, the number produced by involving a million to the third power, or the number represented by a unit with eighteen ciphers annexed. See the Note under Numeration. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL.; cf. L. trilix triple-woven, triple. ] (Bot.) A genus of liliaceous plants; the three-leaved nightshade; -- so called because all the parts of the plant are in threes. [ 1913 Webster ]