▪ I. † wayˈment, n. Obs.
Also 4 weyment.
[a. OF. waiment, weyment, guaiment, f. waimenter: see next.]
Lamentation.
| c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 4435 A gret wayment and hideous cry Might men here then witterly, That the Troyens made y-wys For the wounde of Philomenys. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. iv. 35 She made so piteous mone and deare wayment, That [etc.]. 1647 H. More Song of Soul ii. i. iii. ix, All things did augment My heavie plight, that fouly I blam'd the hest Of stubborn destiny cause of this wayment. |
▪ II. † wayˈment, v. Obs.
Also 4–5 waymente, weyment(e, 4–5, 7 wament, 5–6 Sc. woment, wement, 6–7 waiment.
[a. OF. waimenter, weymenter, guaimenter, f. wai, guai int., wo, alas; prob. after lamenter to lament.]
1. intr. To lament, wail; to sorrow bitterly.
| 1375 Cant. Creat. 177 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 126/2 Þus seuentene dayes and more Alle þe fisches sorweden þore And waymentide wiþ Adam. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶230 Thilke science, as seith seint Augustyn, maketh a man to waymenten in his herte. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun (Roxb.) 94 The whilk for hire two sons waymentid doelfully. 1530 Palsgr. 779/2, I wement, I make mone... It dyd my hert yll to here the poore boye wement whan his mother was gone. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 16 For what bootes it to weepe and to wayment, When ill is chaunst? 1595 Locrine ii. ii. 89 And therefore well may I wayment. 1678 Littleton Eng.-Lat. Dict., To wament, lamento. 1814 Cary Dante, Purg. xxvi. 135 Sorely waymenting for my folly past. 1861 K. H. Digby Chapel St. John (1863) 182 The profane laity chuckling or waymenting when conferring professionally with one another on their..gains, or losses. |
| refl. c 1450 Merlin xvi. 262 Whan he hadde thus hym longe waymented. |
2. trans. To bewail, lament for.
| c 1475 Partenay 3324 He thaim complained And waymented sore. 1566 Gascoigne Jocasta ii. i. 57 And mee thy wretched dame,..waymenting still Th' vnworthie exile thy brother to thee gaue. 1593 G. Harvey New Let. Notable Cont. Wks. (Grosart) I. 296 Magnifique Mindes..In grisly weedes His Obsequies waiment. |
Hence † wayˈmenting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxxiii. 21 The ded of synfulmen..is werst.., thof it be endid in riches and honurs and waymentynge of men. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 137 The grete clamour and the waymentynge That the ladyes made at the brennynge Of the bodies. c 1470 Henry Wallace ii. 161 The pittows wementyng [ed. 1570 womenting], The wofull wepyng that was for his takyng. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. viii. 2 How mony sobbis gaif thow and womentingis? 1566 Gascoigne Jocasta v. v. 116, I will..washe thy wounds with my waymenting teares. 1603 Florio Montaigne iii. iv. 504 For their lost husbands they entreate their waymentings by repetition of the good and gracefull partes they were endowed with. 1621 Molle Camerar. Liv. Libr. ii. xviii. 130 The..pittifull waymenting of the people. 1883 R. W. Dixon Mano i. xvi. 53 How waymenting Came in joy's place. |