wail like a banshee, to
wail like a banshee
To scream, howl, or screech in a very loud, high-pitched, and unsettling manner. Some animal has been wailing like a banshee in the alleyway all night long. Kids, stop wailing like a banshees back there! I need to focus on driving and I can barely hear myself think!
See also: banshee, like, wail
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
wail like a banshee
Scream shrilly, as in Terrified, she wailed like a banshee. In Irish folklore, a banshee is a spirit in the form of a wailing woman whose appearance is an omen that one member of a family will die. The simile dates from the late 1800s.
See also: banshee, like, wail
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
wail like a banshee, to
To scream shrilly. In Irish folklore, a “banshee” is a spirit in the form of a wailing woman who appears or is heard as a sign that one member of a family will soon die. The word appeared in English (from the Gaelic bean sidhe) in the second half of the eighteenth century. The simile dates from the late nineteenth century.
See also: like, wail
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- wail like a banshee
- scream like a banshee
- howl like a banshee
- shriek like a banshee
- banshee
- cry like a banshee
- one's ears are ringing
- (one's) ears are ringing
- piercing scream
- scream the place down