▪ I. whimpering, vbl. n.
(ˈhwɪmpərɪŋ)
[f. prec. vb. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb whimper.
| 1522 More De quat. Noviss. Wks. 89 Yf we..liue in puling & whimpering & heuines of hert. 1621 T. Granger Eccles. xii. 4. 320 The noise of little birds, the whimpering of mice, euery small stirrage waketh them. 1621 Markham Hungers Prevention 274 A kinde of whimpering and whining in his [sc. the dog's] voice. 1660 H. More Myst. Godl. x. vii. 509 He will not..be put off with solemn whimperings, Hypocritical Confessions, ruful faces. 1735 Somerville Chase i. 225 The..Hound..Bounds o'er the Lawn to seize his panting Prey And in imperfect Whimp'rings speaks his Joy. 1832 W. Irving Alhambra II. 102 His wife received him..with whimperings and repinings. 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles viii. 78 There was no sham whimpering..but the boy's heart seemed touched. 1902 L. Stephen Stud. Biogr. IV. v. 188 Many men of business..enjoy in strict privacy a little whimpering over a novel. |
▪ II. whimpering, ppl. a.
(ˈhwɪmpərɪŋ)
[f. prec. vb. + -ing2.]
That whimpers, in various senses.
| 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 29 Their whimpring Sonnets, puling Elegies Slaunder the Muses. 1622 Massinger & Dekker Virg. Mart. ii. i, Our whimpring Lady and Mistresse sent mee. 1648 Herrick Hesp., To Primroses fill'd with Morning Dew ii, Speak, whimp'ring Younglings, and make known The reason, why Ye droop, and weep. 1735 R. Savage Progr. Divine Wks. 1777 II. 121 Be yours the blubb'ring lip, and whimp'ring eye! 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. xxiv, With heads erect, and whimpering cry, The hounds behind their passage ply. 1840 Thackeray Paris Sk.-bk., Mme. Sand, Any one can see why Rousseau should be such a whimpering reformer. 1879 Browning Ivan Ivanovitch 205 The whimperingest cub that ever squeezed the teat! |
Hence ˈwhimperingly adv.
| 1878 Stevenson Inland Voy. 157 He would suddenly break away and begin whimperingly to commiserate the poor. |