Weep

Pronunciation

• enPR: wÄ“p, IPA: /wiːp/
• Rhymes: -iːp

From Middle English wepen, from Old English wēpan ("to weep, complain, bewail, mourn over, deplore"), from Proto-Germanic *wōpijaną ("to weep"), from Proto-Indo-European *wāb- ("to call, cry, complain"). Cognate with Scots wepe, weip ("to weep"), Saterland Frisian wapia ("to cry, complain"), Icelandic æpa ("to yell, shout").

Full definition of weep

Verb

1. To cry; shed tears.
• LongfellowThey wept together in silence.
2. To lament; to complain.
• Bible, Numbers xi. 13They weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.
3. (medicine, of a wound or sore) To produce secretions.
4. To flow in drops; to run in drops.a weeping spring, which discharges water slowly
• ShakespeareThe blood weeps from my heart.
5. To hang the branches, as if in sorrow; to be pendent; to droop; said of a plant or its branches.
6. (obsolete, transitive) To weep over; to bewail.
• PriorFair Venus wept the sad disaster
  Of having lost her favorite dove.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Imitative of its cry.

Noun

1. The lapwing; the wipe.