Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To cry or sob with soft intermittent sounds; whine.
  • intransitive verb To complain.
  • intransitive verb To utter in a whimper.
  • noun A low, broken, sobbing sound; a whine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To produce a sound resembling a whimper.
  • noun A low, peevish, broken cry; a whine.
  • To cry with a low, whining, broken voice; make a low, complaining sound.
  • To tell tales.
  • To utter in a low, whining, or crying tone.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A low, whining, broken cry; a low, whining sound, expressive of complaint or grief.
  • transitive verb To utter in alow, whining tone.
  • intransitive verb To cry with a low, whining, broken voice; to whine; to complain.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A low intermittent sob.
  • verb To cry or sob softly and intermittently.
  • verb To say something in a whimpering manner.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a complaint uttered in a plaintive whining way
  • verb cry weakly or softly

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably imitative.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • "This is the way the world ends

    This is the way the world ends

    This is the way the world ends

    Not with a bang but a whimper."

    From "The Hollow Men" by TS Eliot.

    May 5, 2007

  • The word mewl should be added to the list of synonyms.

    February 17, 2023