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moan

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L17904 on Wikidata ↗

verb

  1. to utter a moan or complain
L17905 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /məʊn/ / /moʊn/

adj

Etymology: Etymology tree English moa Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Latin -nus Latin -ānus Old French -ainder. Middle English -an English -an English moan From moa + -an.

  1. Of or pertaining to a moa.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English mone, mane, mān, (also as mene), from Old English *mān, *mǣn (“complaint; lamentation”), from Proto-West Germanic *mainu, from Proto-Germanic *mainō (“opinion; mind”). Cognate with Old Frisian mēne (“opinion”), Old High German meina (“opinion”). Old English *mān, *mǣn is inferred from Old English mǣnan (“to complain over; grieve; mourn”). More at mean.

  1. A low, mournful cry of pain, sorrow or pleasure.

    let out a deep moan

    We heard the distant moan of a stag in pain.

  2. A lament or sorrow.

    to make one's moan

    it shall be my daily grief and moan, that I am so dull, & do so little[…]But if when all is done that we can do, you will leave us nothing but our tears and moans for self-destroyers, the sin is yours, and the suffering shall be yours.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English mone, mane, mān, (also as mene), from Old English *mān, *mǣn (“complaint; lamentation”), from Proto-West Germanic *mainu, from Proto-Germanic *mainō (“opinion; mind”). Cognate with Old Frisian mēne (“opinion”), Old High German meina (“opinion”). Old English *mān, *mǣn is inferred from Old English mǣnan (“to complain over; grieve; mourn”). More at mean.

  1. To complain about; to bemoan, to bewail; to mourn.

    Much did the Craven seeme to mone his case […].

    1708, Matthew Prior, the Turtle and the Sparrow Ye floods, ye woods, ye echoes, moan / My dear Columbo, dead and gone.

  2. To grieve.
  3. To make a moan or similar sound.

    She moaned with pleasure and squirmed with delight from receiving oral sex.

    They shared a common dread that he would begin moaning.

  4. To say in a moan, or with a moaning voice.

    ‘Please don't leave me,’ he moaned.

  5. To complain; to grumble.
  6. To distress (someone); to sadden.

    which infinitely moans me