▪ I. ˈcrying, vbl. n.
[-ing1.]
1. The action of the verb cry in its various senses; shouting, lamentation, weeping, etc.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter iii. 4 His prayere he calles criynge. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. vi. (1495) 416 Cryenge of the owle by nyght. c 1400 Destr. Troy 10180 The clamor was kene, crying of pepull. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 168 Thy crying, foole, shall not wake him out of that sleepe. 1611 Bible 1 Sam. iv. 14 Eli heard the noise of the crying. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 24 My crying was over. 1891 F. Barrett Sin of Olga Z. I. viii. 115 There's a good deal of crying! And we mope and look miserable. |
2. With adverbs, as crying out, exclamation, calling out, outcry; † spec. accouchement (obs.); crying up, extolling, laudation, etc.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 82 A Criynge owte, exclamacio. 1676 Allen Address Nonconf. 158 A zealous crying up one, and crying down another. 1692 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 417 He has ordered all the English nobility and gentry to be present at her crying out. 1715 tr. C'tess D' Anois' Wks. 479 Couriers were dispatch'd..to desire them to come to Her Majesty's Crying-out. 1754 Richardson Grandison (1812) VI. 323 (D.) Aunt Nell..was at the crying out. |
3. attrib., as crying cold, a cold that makes the eyes run.
| 1761 Foote Liar i. Wks. 1799 I. 290 All the sighing, dying, crying crotchets, that the whole race of rhymers have ever produced. 1843 Sir T. Watson Lect. Physic (1871) II. 55, I found her suffering under what is popularly called a ‘crying cold’. |
▪ II. ˈcrying, ppl. a.
[-ing2.]
That cries.
1. Exclaiming, shouting, clamorous; roaring.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xxiii. (1495) 455 A cryenge see and an vnpeasyble is peryllous. 1483 Cath. Angl. 82 Criynge, clamans. 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 230 My selfe the crying Fellow did pursue. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 495 When crying Cormorants forsake the Sea. |
2. Wailing, weeping.
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 814 And fright her crying babe with Tarquin's name. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 380 Annoyed by invalids and crying children. |
3. Of evils: That forces itself upon notice, and calls loudly for redress; clamant, notorious.
| 1607 Topsell Serpents (1608) 736 Odious crying sins. 1640 Petit. in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1692) iii. I. 21 Representing Ship-Money as a Great and Crying Grievance. 1660 Gauden God's Great Demonstr. 52 The cryingest injustice and cruelty in the world. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 61 ¶5 There is a most crying Dulness on both Sides. 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) I. iii. 155 The most crying evil of this period. 1890 F. W. Robinson Very Strange Family xi. 95 It would be a crying shame, if you could. |
| advb. 1836–9 Dickens Sk. Boz (1877) 126 These two old men..have made themselves crying drunk. |