▪ I. moaning, vbl. n.
(ˈməʊnɪŋ)
[-ing1.]
The action of the verb moan, in various senses.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. xi. (1590) 44 Palladius..besought her for her promise sake, to put silence so longe vnto her moning. 1648 Owen Righteous Zeal Encouraged Wks. 1851 VIII. 143 Hence his complaints, hence his moanings. 1724 Ramsay Vision vi, Thy graneing, and maneing, Have laitlie reich'd myne eir. 1744 Armstrong Preserv. Health iv. 151 Nor to the rivulet's lonely moanings tune Your sad complaint. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. ii. ii. §9 (1864) 216 The moaning of the wind is due to the waxing and waning of the intensity of the sound. 1889 Tennyson Crossing the Bar, And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea. 1904 Expositor Mar. 198 The self-commiserating moanings of the modern lyrics of pessimism. |
▪ II. moaning, ppl. a.
(ˈməʊnɪŋ)
[f. moan v. + -ing2.]
a. That moans.
| a 1800 J. Warton Ode on Shooting, Linnet, or warbling thrush, or moaning dove. 1829 F. Glasse Belgic Past., True Lover 141 A sighing, moaning, am'rous youth. 1830 Tennyson Poems 97 On the black and moaning sea. 1859 Kingsley Misc. (1860) II. 281 The soft melancholy alto of the moaning woods. |
b. spec. moaning minnie (also with capital initials). (a) Either of two German types of mortar (minenwerfer or nebelwerfer); also, a shell from one of these mortars; (b) an air-raid siren; (c) = moaner.
| 1941 R. Greenwood Mr. Bunting at War xiv. 192 ‘One up now,’ said Chris, listening to the drone of an engine. ‘Hope Moaning Minnie doesn't sound, and bring mother downstairs.’ 1944 Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 12 Apr.–26 Sept. 376 (caption) When the Germans beat a hasty retreat from Cagny among the material they abandoned was this multiple mortar, or ‘Moaning Minnie’. 1950 [see Minnie2, minnie]. 1962 Sunday Times 21 Jan. 32/4 Another said that she ‘..just didn't believe these moaning minnies’. 1972 N.Z. News 26 Apr. 6/5, I don't want to give the impression of being a moaning Minnie but may I..make a special plea to the railmen to..get back to work. |
Hence ˈmoaningly adv.
| 1837 Verlander Vestal, etc. 80 Hark! the sad voic'd bell..now rolling Moaningly and low. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xv, High over her they [sc. waves] break,..and giving place to others, moaningly depart. 1857 Fraser's Mag. LVI. 489 The rain welters moaningly. |