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Recent Examples of whinny
Verb
The downy woodpecker also whinnies like a miniature horse throughout the breeding season.—Sheryl De Vore, Chicago Tribune, 21 Jan. 2025 That doesn’t include food for the horses, who start whinnying.—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 22 Mar. 2024 Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth is one of the oldest proverbs known to humankind, whinnying back at least 1,500 years.—Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 May 2024 Kenny was large for his age, with a flat, flabby face and a high, whinnying voice.—Aryn Kyle, Harper's Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024 Waffles, patient and unbothered as onlookers walked around and stopped to gaze, nickered as another horse on the other side of the massive stalls whinnied.—James Hartley, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 Jan. 2024 Some unidentified whinnying joins the cacophony that accompanies gentrification—brash and brazen, with a total disregard for anything other than its own bullish desire.—Rebecca Haithcoat, GQ, 5 June 2018 The 10-year-old mare bucked, whinnied, and galloped, sensing the pride of victory.—Mitchell Gladstone, Philly.com, 2 June 2018 The forecast was calling for rain the next day, an element as necessary for all this — the flowering plant life, the whinnying animal life — as is the sun.—John Kelly, Washington Post, 29 Apr. 2018
Noun
Wild ponies, svelte & savage, graze in dune grasses, whinny, yawn.—J.t. Townley, The New York Review of Books, 6 Mar. 2025 This works, Brian says, and leans back against the wall, the dog panting less, the faint whinny of a horse, an airplane.—Paul Yoon, The New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2024 One of the horses fell on its side, its high whinny like a human scream.—Nick Romano, EW.com, 12 Dec. 2022 Laughter punctuates the exaggerated whinnies, proving that the source is not in fact a horse.—Kalyn Kahler, SI.com, 11 June 2018 But the methodical, meditative act of grooming a horse — brush, brush, brush — and the smell of hay and the gentle whinnies from the 1,200-pound creature have been therapy for Alger.—Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, 17 May 2018 An astonishing collection of laughs — whinnies, giggles, squeals, snorts, heaves — gradually colors the narrative, until this seemingly harmless man becomes, in effect, not just a witness to savagery, but also an accessory.—Jesse Green, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2018 Animal grunts and growls, horse neighs and whinnies.—Charles Desmarais, San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Apr. 2018 More important, the track is where Charley meets a pretty quarter horse named Lean on Pete, whose velvety brown coat and barely audible whinnies become a balm for the lonely teenager.—Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2018
Lately, there has been one with a hoarse screech calling me.
—
Joan Morris,
Mercury News,
27 May 2025
But their magnum opus was 1978’s Dub Housing, where Thomas shows off his collection of animal noises, grunts, yelps, and screeches, up to his neck in industrial synth-and-guitar factory noise.
This is true on a city bus, too, where the earbuds easily cut the bus engine noise and the higher-pitch squeals from the doors opening.
—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
6 May 2025
Frontman Bryan Garris let out a mighty pig squeal as guest vocalist Poppy thrashed and screamed across the stage, dressed like an even more macabre girl from The Ring.
This pageant of puppetry includes a flutter of butterflies, a goat with a plaintive bleat, a menagerie of wild animals and, at one point, a school of glowing fish.
—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
9 May 2025
Moments later, the bear rushes in, bites the fawn in the back, and violently shakes it as the fawn lets out piercing bleats.
This was the first finals game in Indianapolis in 25 years, and the roar of the Hoosier faithful throughout the night was something to behold.
—
Joe Vardon,
New York Times,
12 June 2025
The roar of the Thunderbirds filled the sky Saturday over Beale Air Force Base, long known for the more clandestine surveillance and recon missions of the U.S. Air Force.
Throughout the flight, excited reactions and yelps could be heard from the crew over the live stream's audio feed.
—
Rachel Chang,
Travel + Leisure,
14 Apr. 2025
But their magnum opus was 1978’s Dub Housing, where Thomas shows off his collection of animal noises, grunts, yelps, and screeches, up to his neck in industrial synth-and-guitar factory noise.
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