weary
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɪə̯ɹi/
note: General American, mirror–nearer merger
ipa: /ˈwɪɹi/
note: without the mirror–nearer merger
ipa: /ˈwɪɚi/
note: without the mirror–nearer merger
ipa: /ˈwiɹi/
ipa: /ˈwiːɹi/
ipa: /ˈwiə̯ɹi/
note: East Anglia, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /ˈwɛːɹi/
rhymes: -ɪəɹi
homophone: wary (cheer–chair merger)
Forms: form: wearier
form: weariest
Etymology: From Middle English wery, weri, from Old English wēriġ (“weary”), from Proto-West Germanic *wōrīg, *wōrag (“weary”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian wuurich (“weary, tired”), West Frisian wurch (“tired”), Dutch dialectal wurrig (“exhausted”), Old Saxon wōrig (“weary”), Old High German wōrag, wuarag (“drunken”).
Senses: examples: text: A weary traveller knocked at the door.
text: I care not for my spirits if my legs were not weary.
ref: 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, [Act II, scene iv]:
text: [I] am weary, thinking of your task.
ref: 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Weariness:
text: There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
ref: 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091:
text: With the lift in the block still out of order, they climbed the flights and flights of steps. When Dad finally put the key in the front door, both were weary beyond words.
ref: 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:
synonyms: word: drained
word: weary
word: bleareyed
word: bleary
word: bleary-eyed
word: bone-tired
word: bushed
word: tired out
word: spent
word: drained
word: dog-tired
word: dog-weary
word: exhausted
word: fatigued
word: forfairn
word: forlagen
word: forworn
word: heavyeyed
word: jaded
word: languid
word: enervated
word: out of gas
word: played out
word: run-down
word: shattered
word: shot
word: sleepy
word: stuffed
word: tired
word: washed out
word: weariful
word: weary
word: whacked
word: whipped
word: worn
word: worn out
word: banjaxed
word: beat
word: buggered
word: busted
word: dead tired
word: cream crackered
word: done
word: done in
word: done up
word: fagged out
word: fried
word: fucked
word: gassed
word: jiggered
word: Kerry Packered
word: knacked
word: knackered
word: nadgered
word: pooped
word: pooped out
word: pumped
word: shagged
word: shagged out
word: tuckered
word: tuckered out
word: wappened
word: zonked
glosses: Having the strength exhausted by toil or exertion; tired; fatigued.
examples: text: soldiers weary of marching, or of confinement;  I grew weary of studying and left the library.
synonyms: word: fed up
word: sick to the back teeth
word: annoyed
word: angry
word: aggravated
word: agitated
word: bothered
word: exasperated
word: frustrated
word: irritable
word: irritated
word: irked
word: peeved
word: pestered
word: pissy
word: ratty
word: shitty
word: sore
word: tired
word: vexed
word: bee in one's bonnet
word: have it in for
word: hot and bothered
word: hold a grudge
word: brassed off
word: browned off
word: cheesed off
word: peed off
word: pissed off
word: PO'd
word: teed off
word: ticked off
glosses: Having one's patience, relish, or contentment exhausted; tired; sick.
examples: text: He gave me a weary smile.
synonyms: drawn
haggard
glosses: Expressive of fatigue.
examples: text: And now she was vppon the weary way,
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 39:
text: There passed a weary time.
ref: 1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC:
text: She had to dance all night without resting till break of day […] Old women supported her in the weary task, and they all danced together, arm in arm.
ref: 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 9, page 284:
synonyms: word: drudgerous
word: tedious
word: draining
word: exhausting
word: exhaustive
word: fatiguing
word: tiresome
word: tiring
word: weariful
word: wearing
word: wearisome
word: weary
glosses: Causing weariness; tiresome.
Derived terms: battle-weary
brain weary
dog-weary
drink-weary
no peace for the weary
no rest for the weary
shank-weary
war-weary
wearily
weariness
wearisome
wear weary
weary out
world-weary