whine
Etymology

From Middle English whynen, hwinen, whinen, from Old English hwīnan, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan, from Proto-Germanic *hwīnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey-.

Pronunciation
  • enPR: wīn, IPA: /waɪn/, /ʍaɪn/, [ʍʌɪ̯n], [ʍäːn], [ʍɑe̯n]
Noun

whine (plural whines)

  1. A long-drawn, high-pitched complaining cry or sound.
  2. A complaint or criticism.
    I need to have a quick whine about my boss before we start talking about the holiday.
Translations Verb

whine (whines, present participle whining; simple past and past participle whined)

  1. (intransitive) To utter a high-pitched cry.
  2. (intransitive) To make a sound resembling such a cry.
    The jet engines whined at take off.
  3. (intransitive) To complain or protest with a whine or as if with a whine.
    • 1936 Feb. 15, Ernest Hemingway, letter ↗ to Maxwell Perkins:
      Feel awfully about F. Scott Fitzgerald... I always knew he couldn't think—he never could—but he had a marvelous talent and the thing is to use it—not whine in public.
  4. (intransitive) To move with a whining sound.
    The jet whined into the air.
    The wind whined and moaned through the trees.
  5. (transitive) To utter with the sound of a whine.
    The child whined all his complaints.
    Kelly Queen was whining that the boss made him put on his tie.
Conjugation Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Russian: ~ с воем
Translations


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