wail

Etymology 1

c. 1300, Middle English weilen, waylen (“to sob, cry, wail”), from Old Norse væla (“to wail”), from væ, vei (“woe”), from Proto-Germanic *wai (whence also Old English wā (“woe”) (English woe)), from Proto-Indo-European *wáy. The verb is first attested in the intransitive sense; the transitive sense developed in mid-14ᵗʰ c.. The noun came from the verb.

verb

1. (intransitive) To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.
2. (intransitive) To weep, lament persistently or bitterly.
3. (intransitive) To make a noise like mourning or crying.
   The wind wailed and the rain streamed down.
4. (transitive) To lament; to bewail; to grieve over.
   to wail one's death
5. (slang, music) To perform with great liveliness and force.
   At Boston's Roseland, as "the Count's band was wailing," he grabbed Mamie, an avid dancer. The "band was screaming when she kicked off her shoes and got barefooted 1999, Lewis A. Erenberg, Swingin' the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture, page 111
   The band was really wailing as we quickly made our dance moves in a most provocative manner. 2012, Robert Lewis Barrett, A Portrait of the First Born As a Child, page 377
   We had a nondenominational wedding, with a bunch of great Sufi musicians really wailing, and my wildly enthusiastic mother in attendance. 2013, Joan Silber, Fools

noun

1. A prolonged cry, usually high-pitched, especially as of grief or anguish.
   She let out a loud, doleful wail.
2. Any similar sound as of lamentation; a howl.
   The wail of snow-dark winter winds.
   A bird's wail in the night.
3. A sound made by emergency vehicle sirens, contrasted with "yelp" which is higher-pitched and faster.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse val (“choice”). Compare Icelandic velja (“to choose”). More at wale.

verb

1. (obsolete) Synonym of wale (“to choose; to select”)
   Wailed wine and metes c. 1500, Robert Henryson, The Testament of Cresseid