screams

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of scream.

   The old kettle screams on the stove until someone lifts it off.

   He screams at the referee from the stands during every match.

   Note

   This is the form English uses after he, she, it or any singular noun in the present tense: the kettle screams, he screams. The verb's figurative uses carry over unchanged. A car that screams past is racing. A room that screams of money is plainly showing it, an informal use best kept to casual speech and writing.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of scream.

   Her screams echoed through the empty corridors of the building.

   The screams of the crowd drowned out the band entirely.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs. The same -s ending marks the present-tense verb, so "the screams of the crowd" and "the crowd screams" differ only in grammar. As a noun plural it covers every countable sense of scream: human outcries of fear or anger, the cries of animals in pain, the rough, distorted vocals of metal and screamo, and even exclamation marks.

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