Listen for a harsh braying. Abruptly, a harsh braying broke the idyll. Alcy leaped into the air, barely avoiding a herd of charging unicorns. -- Willow Skye Robinson, Prince of New Avon (2004) Like a war trumpet, a unicorn's harsh bray conveys no warmth. Grating on the ears, harsh braying can sound: discordant like a grating bark not so much angry as disappointed alarming bossy raspy like guffaws of laughter shrill, piercing tense crazed ragged rattling tormented grievous