I. ˈwēp verb
( wept ˈwept ; wept ; weeping ; weeps )
Etymology: Middle English wepen, from Old English wēpan; akin to Old High German wuoffan to weep, Old Norse œpa to cry, scream, Gothic wopjan to cry out, Old Slavic vabiti to call to, summon
transitive verb
1. : to express deep sorrow for usually by shedding tears : bewail , lament
the poet stayed to weep the rose's fading — Katherine Hoskins
2.
a. : to pour forth (tears) from the eyes
wept tears of joy
b. obsolete : to shed drop by drop
my heart weeps blood in anguish — Ben Jonson
3.
a. : to spend in weeping — used with away
into some low cave to crawl and there … weep my life away — Alfred Tennyson
b. : to bring (oneself) to a specified condition by shedding tears
finally wept herself to sleep
4. : to utter or express while shedding tears
weeping his welcomes forth — Shakespeare
5. : to exude (as sap or serous fluid) slowly : ooze
intransitive verb
1. : to reveal an extreme inner emotion by a visual display especially of lamentation and crying : express grief or other passion by shedding tears
they wept together in silence — H.W.Longfellow
2.
a. : to drop water : drip
a sadder day had not been seen; even the clouds wept
b. : to flow or run in drops
the blood weeps from my heart — Shakespeare
c. : to leak in trickles
the bulkhead's buckling … and she's beginning to weep down the joints — F.W.Crofts
3. : to droop over : bend
the willow weeps
4.
a. : to discharge a serous fluid
weeping burned areas
b. of the stem of a plant : to exude water under pressure : bleed
5. : to form beads of liquid on the surface
baked meringue is sometimes seen to weep
•
- weep one's heart out
II. noun
( -s )
1. : weeping or a fit of weeping
there was a scene — a weep or two — Rudyard Kipling
— often used in plural
2. : an exudation of moisture : leak
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: imitative
: lapwing