▪ I. groan, n.
(grəʊn)
Forms: 4–7 grone, (4 gron, 7 groane), 7– groan. β. Sc. 4–8 grane, (5 grayne).
[f. groan v.]
An act of groaning; a low vocal murmur, emitted involuntarily under pressure of pain or distress, or produced in voluntary simulation as an expression of strong disapprobation.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3731 Wit þis gaue ysaac a grane [Gött., Trin. grone]. c 1325 Body & Soul in Map's Poems (Camden) 343/1 As thing al seek hit ȝaf a gron. 1375 Barbour Bruce xiii. 35 Men herd nocht ellis bot granys & dyntis. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. 620 (Thornton MS.) Scho grete one dame Gaynour, with granes so grylle. c 1470 Henry Wallace vii. 459 The peple..Rewmyd in reuth, with mony grysly grayne. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxvi. 24 Thay gyrnd with hiddouss granis. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxv. (1887) 128 The pitifull grones, the lamentable shrikes. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 377 Loues deep grones I neuer shall regard. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 11 There was heard a great lamentation, accompanied with grones and skreeches. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 353 Often he turns his Eyes, and, with a Groan, Surveys the pleasing Kingdoms, once his own. 1738 Wesley Psalms vi. iv, Weary of my unanswer'd Groans,..I languish for Relief. 1796 Macneill Waes of War i. 74 ‘Wha this rudely wakes the sleeping?’ Cried a voice wi' angry grane. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xx, A low groan went through the assembly. 1846 Lundie Mission. Life Samoa xviii. 113 Groans of woe and tears of penitence were all around. 1872 Darwin Emotions xii. 285 The North American Indians express astonishment by a groan. 1884 F. M. Crawford Rom. Singer I. 8 His singing ended in a sort of groan. |
b. attributed to inanimate objects.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear iii. ii. 47 Such groanes of roaring Winde, and Raine, I neuer Remember to haue heard. 1718 Rowe tr. Lucan 183 In hollow Groans the falling Winds complain. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i. (1826) 7 The pauses of silence succeeded each groan of the mountain. |
c. Comb., as groan-like adj.
| 1802 H. Martin Helen of Glenross II. 146 Her groan-like sighs..pierced my ears. |
▪ II. groan, v.
(grəʊn)
Forms: 1 gránian, 2–3 granien, 3 gronie, -y, 4 gronen, 4–8 grone, (5 gronne, gronyn, 6 groane, 6– groan. β. north. and Sc. 4–6, 8–9 grane, 5 grayn(e, 6, 8 grain).
[OE. gránian:—OTeut. type *grainôjan, f. Teut. root *grai- grī̆-, whence OHG. grînan mentioned s.v. grin v.2]
1. intr. To breathe with a deep-toned murmur; to utter a low deep sound expressive of grief or pain.
| 7.. Blickl. Gloss. in Blickl. Hom. 258/1 Granode vel asten, rugiebam. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) cv[i]. 20 [25], Ac hi granedan, and grame spræcan. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 43 Summe þer graninde sikeð. c 1205 Lay. 25558 Swiðe he wes idræcched and granein [read granien, c 1275 gronie] agon. c 1230 Hali Meid. 47 To..greden ai & granen i þe eche grure of helle. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7813 King willam..bigan sone to grony & to febly al so. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 798 He is ofte seke and ay granand. c 1400 Lay-Folks Mass-Bk. App. iv. 325 Þe Pope ful sore gon grone. a 1400–50 Alexander 1219 [He] Gers many grete syre grane & girdis þurȝe maillis. c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 766 Within the dykys thai gert feill Sotheroun grayn. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxv. 19 My wame is of ȝour lufe sa fow, That as ane gaist I glour and grane. a 1550 Christis Kirk Gr. xviii, He grainit lyk ony gaist. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 70 Produce the Plough, and yoke the sturdy Steer, And goad him till he groans beneath his Toil. 1753 J. Bartlet Gentl. Farriery viii. 74 He [a horse] coughs sharply by fits..and frequently groans with it. 1829 Hood Eug. Aram xix, A dozen times I groan'd—the dead Had never groan'd but twice. 1888 M. E. Braddon Fatal Three i. vi, Greswold groaned aloud. |
| fig. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. cxxxiii. 1 Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groane. 1607 ― Timon iii ii. 83 Religion groans at it. 1737 Whiston Josephus, Hist. iii. viii. §4 Now may the laws of our forefathers well groan to purpose. 1833 J. H. Newman Arians iv. iv. (1876) 350 The lively statement of Jerome: ‘The whole world groaned in astonishment to find itself Arian’. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 44 Needs there groan a world in anguish just to teach us sympathy? |
b. Phr. to groan inwardly, groan in oneself, groan in the spirit, † groan with the heart.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 17836 Wit al þair flesche þai quok onnan, And wit þair hertes can þai gran. 1535 Coverdale John xi. 33 Whan Iesus sawe her wepe..he groned in the sprete. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. iii. 11 He deepely sigh'd, and groaned inwardly. 1611 Bible John xi. 38 Iesus therefore againe groning in himselfe, commeth to the graue. 1747 P. Doddridge Life J. Gardiner 21 He could not forbear groaning inwardly. |
c. quasi-trans. To breathe (one's life, soul) away or out in groaning. Similarly, to groan one's heart out.
| 1642 J. Eaton Honey-combe Free Justif. 106 Christ groaned out his blood and life upon the Crosse. 1671 Milton P.L. xi. 447 He fell, and deadly pale, Groand out his Soul with gushing blood effus'd. 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. ii. 817 Stretcht on the cursed Tree his Body hangs, Groaning its Life away in dying Pangs. 1816 Scott Antiq. xii, I'se warrant I might grane my heart out or ony body wad gie me either a bane or a bodle. |
d. To talk in a groaning voice, grumble.
| 1816 Scott Old Mort. xiv, The tane was aye graning about giving tribute to Cæsar. |
e. attributed to inanimate objects.
| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. i. Wks. 1856 I. 17 The flintie rocks groand at his plaints. 1668 R. Steele Chr. Husbandm. Calling viii. (1672) 207 The field groans that bears the grain which thou thus abusest. a 1774 Fergusson Poems (1845) 48 Would it no fret the hardest stane Beneath the Luckenbooths to grane? 1862 B. Taylor Poet's Jrnl. 1st Eve., Symbol, The forests fain would groan. |
† 2. spec. Of the buck: To utter its peculiar cry at rutting-time. (Cf. groin v. 1 b.) Obs.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans E v, An hert belowys and a bucke gronys. 1576 Turberv. Venerie 100 A hart belloweth, a Bucke groneth. 1686 R. Blome Gentl. Recr. ii. 76 A Hart Belloweth, a Buck Groaneth or Twateth. |
3. trans. a. To utter with groans; with an exclamation or sentence as obj. Also with out.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. i. 136 So dying loue liues still..O ho grones out for ha ha ha. a 1716 South (J.), To sigh his griefs and groan his pains. 1785 Burns Death & Dr. Hornbook xxiv, The creature grain'd an eldritch laugh. 1847 Bushnell Chr. Nurt. ii. vii. (1861) 379 He [Christ] lives it [the truth], acts it forth, groans it in his Gethsemane. 1864 Tennyson Sea Dreams 141 ‘No trifle’, groan'd the husband. |
† b. To bewail, lament. Obs. rare.
| a 1762 Lady M. W. Montagu Poems (1785) 2 They groan the cruel load they're doom'd to bear. 1766 E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances III. 113 The Sun hides its Face, for Grief; and the Winds groan her departure. |
4. intr. To be oppressed or overburdened to the point of groaning. Const. beneath, under, with.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 71 Under which Turkish servitude it groned, till our dayes. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 145 For above five hundred yeares Persia groaned under many Lords and Tyrants. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 163 ¶7 If the Afflictions we grone under be very heavy. 1742 Young Nt. Th. ii. 130 As Atlas groan'd The world beneath, we groan beneath an hour. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. xiv. 280 They might take a severe revenge for the barbarities they had groaned under for more than two ages. 1762 Churchill Ghost i. 162 Modest merit..Is left in poverty to groan. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. iv. 428 The injustice under which he appeared to himself to groan. 1833 H. Martineau Manch. Strike iv. 50 Their interests demand the reductions under which we groan. a 1861 T. Woolner My Beautiful Lady (1863) 146 Groaning beneath a Despot. |
b. attributed to inanimate objects (sometimes with mixture of sense 5).
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 253 With labour'd Anvils ætna groans below. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. v. §20 Those arguments, answers, defences, and replications which the press groans under. 1764 Oxford Sausage 191 The Chimnies blaze the Tables groan. 1789 Jefferson Writ. (1859) III. 10 The press groans with productions, which, in point of boldness, make an Englishman stare. 1821 Shelley Hellas 937 Come, feast! the board groans with the flesh of men. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 25 Though the library-shelves groan with books. |
5. transf. To make a deep harsh sound resembling a groan.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vi. vi. 62 Vnder the paysand and the hevy charge Gan grane or geig ful fast the jonit barge. 1781 Cowper Expostulation 58 He heard the wheels..Groan heavily along the distant road. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xli, The key turns, and the door upon its hinges groans. 1847 Tennyson Princ. ii. 451 The great organ almost burst his pipes, Groaning for power. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxii. (1856) 172 The ice is so driven in around us as to grate and groan against the sides of our little vessel. 1875 M{supc}Laren Serm. Ser. ii. vii. 121 The swaying branches creak and groan. |
6. To express earnest longing by groans; to yearn or long, as if with groans; hence fig. of things (cf. 4 b). Const. for, to with inf.
| c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxxiv. 46 Ȝe preiche, ȝe fleich, ȝe frane, Ȝe grane ay quhill thay grant. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. i. 275 This foule deede shall smell aboue the earth With Carrion men, groaning for burial. 1608–9 in Crt. & Times Jas. I (1848) I. 88 It seems the gallows groans for him. a 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Ch. Superl. 17 Nothing but holy, pure, and cleare, Or that which groneth to be so. 1643 [Angier] Lanc. Vall. Achor 10 It is now harvest time, our Corn..is in the field, ripe and groaning for the sickle. 1727 Boyer Angl.-Fr. Dict. s.v., The Gallows groans for him, le Gibet l' attend avec impatience. 1742 Young Nt. Th. i. 257 How groaning hospitals eject their dead! What numbers groan for sad admission there! |
7. trans. a. To express disapproval of by means of groans. b. to groan down: to silence by means of groans.
| 1799 A. Seward Lett. (1811) V. 205 They would be hissed, groaned, and cat-called. 1861 N.Y. Tribune 19 Dec. (Cent.), Yesterday they met, as agreed upon, and, after groaning the Ward Committee, went to the mayor's office. |