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Whine

//waɪn// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A long-drawn, high-pitched complaining cry or sound.

    "The 18-year-old [Justin] Bieber can’t quite pull off the “adult” thing just yet: His voice may have dropped a bit since the days of “Baby,” but it still mostly registers as “angelic,” and veers toward a pubescent whine at times."

  2. 2
    a complaint uttered in a plaintive whining way wordnet
  3. 3
    A complaint or criticism.

    "I need to have a quick whine about my boss before we start talking about the holiday."

Verb
  1. 1
    To utter a high-pitched cry. intransitive
  2. 2
    complain whiningly wordnet
  3. 3
    To make a sound resembling such a cry. intransitive

    "The jet engines whined at take off."

  4. 4
    talk in a tearful manner wordnet
  5. 5
    To complain or protest with a whine (compare whinge) or as if with a whine. intransitive

    "[S]he was one of your ſoft ſpoken, canting, whining hypocrites, who with a truly jeſuitical art, could wreſt evil out of the moſt inoffenſive thought, word, look or action; […]"

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    move with a whining sound wordnet
  2. 7
    To move with a whining sound. intransitive

    "The jet whined into the air."

  3. 8
    make a high-pitched, screeching noise wordnet
  4. 9
    To utter with the sound of a whine. transitive

    "The child whined all his complaints."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English whynen, hwinen, whinen, from Old English hwīnan (“to rush, to whizz, to squeal, to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan, from Proto-Germanic *hwīnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with Old Norse hvína, whence Icelandic hvína, Norwegian Nynorsk kvina, Swedish vina, and Danish hvine. Despite the strong similarity in sound and meaning, not related with German weinen, Dutch wenen, from Proto-Germanic *wainōną (for which see dialectal English ween (“to weep, lament”)).

Etymology 2

From Middle English whynen, hwinen, whinen, from Old English hwīnan (“to rush, to whizz, to squeal, to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan, from Proto-Germanic *hwīnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with Old Norse hvína, whence Icelandic hvína, Norwegian Nynorsk kvina, Swedish vina, and Danish hvine. Despite the strong similarity in sound and meaning, not related with German weinen, Dutch wenen, from Proto-Germanic *wainōną (for which see dialectal English ween (“to weep, lament”)).

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