keening

adj

1. (not-comparable)Sharp, shrill, especially of a sound.

   “The keening sound of a dentist's drill sets my teeth on edge.”

   “As Black Sabbath’s doomsayer-in-chief, Osbourne could summon a true sense of terror in his keening cries in a way that heightened the band’s muscular dirges.”

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Intense mournful wailing after a death, often at a funeral or wake.

   “Keening. I remember keening that seemed to go on all through the night: shrill, sharp, shiny, needles of sound piercing cleanly and deeply to let the anguish in, not out.”

2. (broadly, countable, uncountable)An unpleasant wailing sound.

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of keen