like a banshee
5
9.3
- idiom
- Informal
- Screaming like a banshee, torch still in hand, he takes off running into the echoing dark.
- screamed like a banshee
- screeched like a banshee
- wailing like a banshee
Examples
-
Suddenly, a wild kid wearing grunge clothes runs by howling like a banshee.
Fiction book (1995) -
When they are ill or anxious, which is often the case, they can fight and scream like a banshee.
Blog text (4) -
Got up and came after me like a banshee from hell.
-
Running up and down the road, yelling like a banshee.
-
Go on, howl like a banshee!
-
I have been kicking and hollering like a banshee ever since.
Fiction book (1995) -
It's Don't Leave Me This Way, which will give him plenty of opportunity to shriek like a banshee.
Blog text (32) -
They found him crawling on the floor... ...and howling like a banshee.
-
One time, Blackie just out of nowhere howled like a banshee and lit out across the yard and leaped up at a spot on the corner of the fence.
Fiction book (2001) -
The child was crying like a banshee when she lost her toy.
Synonyms
1
6.6
With a high, sharp sound that hurts your ears
1
7.5
In a very loud or obvious way that people notice easily
To make loud, harsh, and unpleasant sounds
Antonyms
How Loud
Surface Forms
Morphology
The simile 'like a banshee' is compositionally clear: 'like' = similar to and 'banshee' = a wailing spirit, so the phrase literally means behaving in a manner similar to a loud, uncontrollable wailer. Although 'banshee' is a cultural/mythological reference, the standard 'like a + noun' pattern makes the meaning predictable for a learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Like a banshee comes from Irish stories about a female spirit, the banshee, who gives a long, high cry to warn a family of death. Because of that loud wail, saying someone did something 'like a banshee' means they made a very loud, uncontrolled noise, for example shouting or crying.