mewl

present singular third person mewls · participle present mewling · participle past mewled · past mewled

1. To cry weakly with a soft, high-pitched sound; to whimper; to whine.

   You're a pretty clog to be tied to a man for life, you mewling, white-faced cat!

   1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC

   3 more examples

   And one man in his time plays many parts, / His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, / Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms; / Then the whining school-boy, […]

   c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

   My father started rubbing and rubbing on Mittens, scruffying her fur the wrong way, and she mewled her protests.

   2007, Kiesa Kay, Mimosa May, Tornado Alley, page 11

   The neighbours’ cats stroll into my garden, mewling and hoping for a little bit of in flagrante. Honey bees brazenly assault the cherry blossom.

   2015 April 16, Richard P. Grant, “Sex and the successful fundraiser”, in The Guardian

plural mewls

1. A soft cry or whimper; an act of mewling.

   I let out another moaning mewl, biting my lip as I awaited whatever he planned.

   2009, Mickey Erlach, Cruising for Bad Boys, page 61

   2 more examples

   There would have been total silence if it hadn't been for the sea nearby, mewling. Indeed, that same mewl added to the sleepy image that filled the dormant house.

   1995, Lídia Jorge, Natália Costa, Ronald W. Sousa, transl., The Murmuring Coast, page 89

   The scratching stopped, and there was another piteous mewl from behind the door.

   2010, Chris Wooding, Malice, page 15