wail /weɪl/ BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Origin: From a Scandinavian language ]
1 . [transitive] to say something in a loud, sad, and complaining way:
‘But what shall I do?’ Bernard wailed.
2 . [intransitive] to cry out with a long high sound, especially because you are very sad or in pain:
Somewhere behind them a child began to wail.
3 . [intransitive] to make a long high sound:
The wind wailed in the chimney.
—wail noun [countable] :
the wail of police sirens
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ cry to produce tears from your eyes:
Don’t cry – everything will be all right!
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Men aren’t supposed to cry.
▪ cry your eyes out especially spoken to cry a lot and for a long time:
I cried my eyes out when I watched ‘Titanic’.
▪ be in tears to be crying:
By the end of his story, we were all in tears.
▪ be close to tears to be almost crying:
You could see that she was close to tears.
▪ weep literary to cry, especially for a long time:
His mother put her head on the table and wept.
▪ sob to cry, taking sudden loud breaths:
I could hear someone sobbing in the next room.
▪ wail /weɪl/ to cry very loudly in a high voice:
The baby started wailing for its mother.
▪ whimper /ˈwɪmpə $ -ər/ to cry quietly and weakly:
She began rocking to and fro, whimpering softly.
▪ hold/fight back the tears to make a big effort not to cry:
She told her story, struggling to hold back the tears.
▪ your eyes water if your eyes water, they have tears in them, for example because of smoke, wind, or when you are cutting onions:
The onions were making my eyes water.