complaint
(kəmˈpleɪnt)
Forms: 4 compleignte, 4–5 -pleynt(e, 4–6 -pleinte, 5 -plent, 5–6 -playnt(e, 6 -plant, 5– complaint.
[ME. a. F. complainte = Pr. complancha, -plainta, OCat. complancta, -planta, It. compianta, late L. type complancta, n. from complanctus pa. pple., corresp. etymologically to those in -ata, -ada, -ée.]
1. The action of complaining; the utterance of grief, lamentation, grieving.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame ii. 924 For whom was maked moch compleynt. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1516 With pyte and complaint pyne for to here. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxxvi. (heading) 299 The pytefull complaynt that therle Mountfort made for his dethe. 1535 Coverdale Esther (Apoc.) xiii. 17 Turne oure complaynte and sorow in to ioye. 1611 Bible Ps. cxlii. 2. 1727 Pope Thoughts Var. Subjects, Complaint is the largest tribute heaven receives. [1752 Johnson Rambler No. 200 ¶1 They have immediate recourse to lamentation and complaint.] |
2. An expression of grief, a lamentation, a plaint.
| 1593 Drayton Eclogues x. 28 For whose complaints, teares never could suffice. 1699 Bentley Phal. Pref. 43 The Complaints which My Torments express from me. |
b. spec. A plaintive poem, a plaint. (Frequent as a title, but in later times chiefly descriptive.)
| c 1368 Chaucer (title), Compleynte of Pité. c 1386 ― Frankl. T. 220 Of swich matere made he manye layes Songes compleintes roundels virelayes. 1529 Lyndesay (title), Heir beginnis the Complaynt of Schir Dauid Lindesay. 1536 ― The Complaint and publict Confessioun of the Kingis auld Hound callit Bagsche. 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1865) 30 Blanche his wyfe..dyed longe after that compleinte. 1663 Cowley (title), The Complaint. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Cowley Wks. II. 18 An Ode called ‘the Complaint’..seems to have excited more contempt than pity. |
3. Outcry against or because of injury; representation of wrong suffered; utterance of grievance.
| 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. (title), The compleynte of Anelida..upon Arcyte..for his Doublenesse. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 111 Tho was murmur, tho was disdeine, Tho was compleinte on every side. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxix. §14 You..make great complaint of the wonderful cruelty we shew towards you. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 131 Whose failing..I should not expose to blame By my complaint. 1738–9 in Swift's Lett. (1768) IV. 223 For some little time past, I have not had the same cause of complaint. 1789 Bentham Princ. Legisl. xix. §15 It is a standing topic of complaint, that a man knows too little of himself. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. i. 35 Complaint was loud enough when complaint was just, under the Somerset protectorate. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola I. i. vi. |
4. (with a and pl.) An utterance or statement of grievance or injustice suffered.
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 363 To here..hir compleyntes and peticiouns. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 99 a To be in a certayn place, for to here the complayntes of euery body. 1509 Fisher Fun. Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. 299 The holy faders..make these complayntes..agaynst almyghty god. 1690 J. Harrington Def. Rights Univ. Oxford, Pref., Once at least in every age the Citizens have renewed their complaints against us. 1861 Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 155 Yours is the first complaint of the kind I have ever received. |
b. spec. A statement of injury or grievance laid before a court or judicial authority (esp. and properly a Court of Equity) for purposes of prosecution or of redress; a formal accusation or charge. c. U.S. The plaintiff's case in a civil action.
bill of complaint: the written statement of the plaintiff's case.
| 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle i. viii. (1859) 6 In euery ryghtwys court skyle is that the actour be admytted to maken his compleynt. 1529 Act 21 Hen. VIII, c. 16 §11 Our..Subjects..exhibited unto us a lamentable Bill of Complaint. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 161 The Marchauntes of London..exhibited a Byll of complaint agaynst the Countesse of Flaundyrs, for that shee had taken from them certayne goodes. 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1865) 13, I fynde..that kinge Edwarde the firste had herde the compleinte of Johne Chaucer of London. 1611 Bible Acts xxv. 7 The Iewes..stood round about, and laide many and grieuous complaints against Paul. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 227 Who..did preferre their Bills of complaint in Chauncerie. 1772 Hist. Rochester 227 To exhibit a bill of complaint or information against the executors. 1872 O. Shipley Gloss. Eccl. Terms, Article 45 A complaint exhibited in the ecclesiastical courts by way of libel. |
5. The matter, subject, or ground of complaint.
| [a 1699 Stillingfl. Serm. I. x, What complaint hath been more frequent among men almost in all Ages, than that peace and prosperity hath been the portion of the wicked?] a 1745 Swift (J.), The poverty of the clergy in England hath been the complaint of all who wish well to the church. 1751 Butler Wks. (1874) II. 323 The general decay of religion..has been for some time the complaint of all serious persons. |
6. spec. A bodily ailment, indisposition, disorder (esp. of chronic nature).
| 1705 Arbuthnot Coins (J.), One, in a complaint of his bowels, was let blood 'till he..was perfectly cured. 1733 Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 187 Your complaint and mine are not very different..Mine is a sort of dizziness. 1789 Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 267 A medicine very much in esteem for complaints of the throat. 1809 Med. Jrnl. XXI. 47 This..was mistaken for a bowel complaint. 1844 Stanley Life Arnold I. 1, Susannah, who, after a lingering complaint in the spine, died at Laleham, in 1832. |