Whinny
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A gentle neigh.
"And moving out they found the stately horse, / Who now no more a vassal to the thief, / But free to stretch his limbs in lawful fight, / Neigh'd with all gladness as they came, and stoop'd / With a low whinny toward the pair: […]"
- 2 the characteristic sounds made by a horse wordnet
- 1 To make a gentle neigh. intransitive, transitive
"Cattle lowed here and there, and horses whinnied to be fed."
- 2 make a characteristic sound, of a horse wordnet
Example
More examples"And moving out they found the stately horse, / Who now no more a vassal to the thief, / But free to stretch his limbs in lawful fight, / Neigh'd with all gladness as they came, and stoop'd / With a low whinny toward the pair: […]"
Etymology
From Middle English whynyen, whinien, akin to Middle English whinen (“to whine”).
More for "whinny"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.