Word of the day: skirl

The word of the day is skirl:

1. to play the bagpipe.
2. Scot. and North England . to shriek.

c.1400, "to make a shrill sound," from a Scand. source (cf. Norw. skyrla, skrella "to shriek"), of imitative origin. In reference to bagpipes, it is attested by 1665 and now rarely used otherwise.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/skirl)

"Voices would skirl up in the darkness: one person singing a lullaby, then another person, until everyone was asleep."

 - Charles Mann, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus