groan

plural groans · alternative groane · alternative Scotland grane · alternative Scotland grain · alternative Scotland graen

1. A low, mournful sound uttered in pain or grief.

   let out a groan

2. A low, guttural sound uttered in frustration, disapproval, or ecstasy.
3. A low creaking sound from applied pressure or weight.

present singular third person groans · participle present groaning · participle past groaned · past groaned · alternative groane · alternative Scotland grane · alternative Scotland grain · alternative Scotland graen

1. To make a groan.

   We groaned at his awful jokes.

   3 more examples

   The wooden table groaned under the weight of the banquet.

   My Lord of Hereford here whom you call King, / Is a foule traitour to proud Herefords King, / And if you crowne him let me propheſie, / The bloud of Engliſh ſhall manure the ground, / And future ages groane for this foule act, [...]

   1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]

   Designed to accommodate 60,000 people per day in the 1960s, the main concourse, entrances and passageways around the station were by then positively groaning under the weight of more than 140,000 passengers every 24 hours.

   2020 July 29, Paul Stephen, “A new collaboration centred on New Street”, in Rail, page 54

2. figurativelyTo seemingly creak under the strain of being heavily laden.

   That night the table in the outer dining room was just groaning with good things.

   1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 14, column 1

   2 more examples

   Bookshelves groan under the bloated weight of tomes detailing Great Straight Marriages.

   1979 February 10, John Mitzel, “Crimes of Passion”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 28, page 13

   Whenever Ms. Rompoti’s curvy protagonist, an event planner named Sienna, was in a scene, the A.I. constantly referenced her weight, for example, noting that a chair groaned when she sat down.

   2026 February 8, Alexandra Alter, “The New Fabio Is Claude”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

3. obsoleteTo strive after earnestly, as if with groans.

   Nothing but holy, pure, and clear, / Or that which groaneth to be so.

   [1633], George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC