moan

plural moans

1. A low, mournful cry of pain, sorrow or pleasure.

   let out a deep moan

   1 more example

   We heard the distant moan of a stag in pain.

2. obsoleteA lament or sorrow.

   to make one's moan

   to grieve, complain

   2 more examples

   it shall be my daily grief and moan, that I am so dull, & do so little[…]But if when all is done that we can do, you will leave us nothing but our tears and moans for self-destroyers, the sin is yours, and the suffering shall be yours.

   1662, Richard Baxter, Now or never the holy, serious, diligent believer justified, encouraged, excited and directed, and the opposers and neglecters convinced by the light of Scripture and reason, pages 131 and 239

   to thee therefore oh Lord do I make my moan, to thee I render my humble petition, and pour out my soul which hath sinned against thee: Oh Lord, I beseech thee for thy infinite mercy in Jesus Christ, to take pity upon mee[…]

   1660, John Ball, A treatise of divine meditation, page 255

present singular third person moans · participle present moaning · participle past moaned · past moaned · first person past singular moaned · archaic present second person singular moanest · past second person singular moaned · archaic past second person singular moanedst · present singular third person moans · archaic present singular third person moaneth · past singular third person moaned · past plural moaned · past subjunctive moaned · participle present moaning · participle past moaned

1. UKtransitiveTo complain about; to bemoan, to bewail; to mourn.First known use 13th c.

   Much did the Craven seeme to mone his case […].

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   1 more example

   1708, Matthew Prior, the Turtle and the Sparrow Ye floods, ye woods, ye echoes, moan / My dear Columbo, dead and gone.

2. intransitivepoeticTo grieve.First known use 14th c.

   Synonyms: lament, aggrieve, besorrow, condole, darken, engrieve, erme, gloom

3. intransitiveTo make a moan or similar sound.First known use 18th c.

   She moaned with pleasure and squirmed with delight from receiving oral sex.

   1 more example

   They shared a common dread that he would begin moaning.

   1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 169

4. transitiveTo say in a moan, or with a moaning voice.First known use 19th c.

   ‘Please don't leave me,’ he moaned.

5. colloquialintransitiveTo complain; to grumble.First known use 20th c.

   Synonyms: whine, beef, bellyache, bemoan, bitch, bleat, whimper, carp

6. obsoletetransitiveTo distress (someone); to sadden.First known use 15th–17th c.

   which infinitely moans me

   1626 February 1 (licensing date; Gregorian calendar), John Fletcher [et al.], “The Faire Maide of the Inne”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene i

   Synonyms: deject, aggrieve, attrist, begloom, begrieve, besorrow, grieve, pain

comparative more moan · superlative most moan

1. Of or pertaining to a moa.