Definitions
make a high-pitched, screeching noise
Word origin
From Middle English creken, criken, metathesis of Old English cearcian (“to chatter, creak, crash, gnash”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn (“to crash, crack, creak”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to make a sound, cry hoarsely”), ultimately of imitative origin.
Used in a sentence
“I won't say that I didn't close my eyes for a minute through the whole night, but if I did sleep it was only as a watchdog sleeps. A whisper or a creak of a board would have found me alert.”
“Then when the four ropes were arranged the coffin was placed upon them. He watched it descend; it seemed descending for ever. At last a thud was heard; the ropes creaked as they were drawn up.”
“He heard the creaking of the bolt as it came slowly back, and at the same moment he found the monkey's paw, and frantically breathed his third and last wish.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Floorboard sound”5 letters
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