yells

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular present of yell.

   He yells across the yard to get the dog's attention.

   The vendor yells out prices to passing shoppers.

   Note

   One spelling carries all three uses of the verb. It can stand alone (she yells when the team scores) or take the words shouted as its object (he yells a warning). Informally it can also mean to scold (the coach yells at the players). Don't confuse it with the plural noun. A subject in front of it signals the verb, while an article or possessive (the fans' yells) signals the noun.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of yell.

   The fans' yells carried across the stadium long after the final whistle.

   Frantic yells for help came from somewhere down the dark alley.

   Note

   A plural that covers two kinds of noise: wordless cries, as in yells of pain, and set phrases meant to be shouted, the kind a crowd calls out together. Both meanings are countable, so the plural is ordinary for either. Neither has anything to do with the Ulster adjective yell, meaning "dry" and said of a cow. An adjective takes no plural, so that word never appears in this form.

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