cry
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /kɹaɪ/
homophone: krai
rhymes: -aɪ
Forms: form: cries
form: crying
form: cried
form: cried
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: cry
form: cry
form: cried
form: cryed
form: cry
form: criest
form: cryest
form: cried
form: cryed
form: criedst
form: cryedst
form: cries
form: crieth
form: cryeth
form: cried
form: cryed
form: cry
form: cried
form: cryed
form: cry
form: cried
form: cryed
form: cry
form: -
form: crying
form: cried
form: cryed
Etymology: The verb is from Middle English crien (13th century), from Old French crier, from Vulgar Latin *crītāre, generally thought to derive from Classical Latin quirītāre (Proto-West Germanic *krītan has also been suggested as a source). The noun corresponds to Middle English cry, crie, from Old French cri, a deverbal of crier.
etymology note
Middle English crien eventually displaced native Middle English galen (“to cry out”) (from Old English galan), Middle English greden (“to cry out”) (from Old English grǣdan), Middle English yermen (“to bellow, mourn, lament”) (from Old English ġierman), Middle English hooen, hoen (“to cry out”) (from Old Norse hóa), Middle English remen (“to cry, shout”) (from Old English hrīeman, compare Old English hrēam (“noise, outcry, lamentation, alarm”)), Middle English greten, graten (“to weep, cry, lament”) (from Old English grǣtan and Old Norse gráta). More at greet, regret.
Already in the 13th century, the meaning was extended to include the sense "to shed tears" (natively weep); cry used in this sense had mostly replaced weep by the 16th century.
Senses: examples: text: That sad movie always makes me cry.
text: - Emerl: “There’s nothing worse than making a girl cry!” That’s what Sonic said...
ref: 2003, Sonic Team, Sonic Battle, Sega, published 2003, Game Boy Advance, level/area: Cream’s Story:
glosses: To shed tears; to weep. Especially in anger or sadness
examples: text: All, all, cry shame against ye, yet I'll speak.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
text: [T]he Man put his fingers in his Ears, and ran on crying, Life, Life, Eternal Life: [...]
ref: 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 3:
glosses: To utter loudly; to call out; to declare publicly.
examples: text: And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 27:46:
glosses: To shout, scream, yell.
examples: text: My secrets cry aloud.
I have no need for tongue.
ref: 1941, Theodore Roethke, “Open House”, in Open House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London: Faber and Faber […], 1968, →OCLC, page 3:
glosses: To forcefully attract attention or proclaim one’s presence.
examples: text: the young ravens which cry
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 147:9:
text: In a cowslip's bell I lie / There I couch when owls do cry.
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
glosses: To utter inarticulate sounds, as animals do.
examples: text: Tonight I’ll cry myself to sleep.
glosses: To cause to do something, or bring to some state, by crying or weeping.
examples: text: to cry goods
text: Love is lost, and thus she cries him.
ref: 1652, Richard Crashaw, The Beginning of Heliodorus:
text: “We're in luck. Loren Passerine, the finest auctioneer in the West, will be crying today.” “Will be what?” “We say an auctioneer ‘cries’ a sale,” Cohen said.
ref: 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 6, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 137:
text: Oh, Elcid Barrett cried the town / (How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now!) / For twenty brave men, all fishermen, who / Would make for him the Antelope's crew.
ref: 1976, Stan Rogers, “Barrett's Privateers”, in Fogarty's Cove:
glosses: To make oral and public proclamation of; to notify or advertise by outcry, especially things lost or found, goods to be sold, auctioned, etc.
examples: text: I should not be surprised if they were cried in church next Sabbath.
ref: 1845, Sylvester Judd, Margaret: A Tale of the Real and the Ideal, Blight and Bloom; Including Sketches of a Place Not Before Described, Called Mons Christi:
glosses: To make oral and public proclamation of; to notify or advertise by outcry, especially things lost or found, goods to be sold, auctioned, etc.
Hence, to publish the banns of, as for marriage.
Synonyms: bawl
blubber
sob
wail
weep
whimper
Derived terms: all over but the crying
becry
catchcry
cry aim
cry all the way to the bank
cry and seethe
crybaby
cry beef
cry blue murder
cry buckets
cry carrots and turnips
cry craven
cry cupboard
cry down
cryey
cry foul
cry from the housetop
cry from the housetops
cry from the rooftop
cry from the rooftops
cryful
cry halves
cry harder
cry havoc
crying bird
crying call
crying game
crying shame
cry in one's beer
cry in the wilderness
cry into one's beer
cry it out
cry-laugh
cry like a baby
cry like a little girl
cry off
cry on
cry oneself to sleep
cry one's eyes out
cry out
cry out for
cry over spilt milk
crysome
cry someone a river
cry stinking fish
cry the blues
cry uncle
cry up
cry wolf
don't cry over spilled milk
don't cry over spilt milk
for crying out loud
forecry
kiss and cry
make baby Jesus cry
make the bald man cry
shooting and crying
shoulder to cry on
there's no point crying over spilt milk
there's no use crying over spilt milk
ugly cry
undercry
upcry
voice crying in the wilderness