▪ I. sigh, n.
(saɪ, Sc. sɪx)
Forms: α. 5 syhe, 5–6 syghe, 6 sygh; 4–7 sighe, 4– sigh. β. Sc. 6 sych(e, 6, 8–9 sich, 6, 9 arch. siche, 9 sicgh; north. 9 seegh.
[f. the vb.]
1. A sudden, prolonged, deep and more or less audible respiration, following on a deep-drawn breath, and esp. indicating or expressing dejection, weariness, longing, pain, or relief.
| α 13.. Cursor M. 15169 (Gött.), Ful mani sari sigh, i-wis, þar sank tille his herte. c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules 248 Withyn the temple of syghes [v.r. syhes] hote as fyre.., Whyche syghes engendryd were with desyre [etc.]. c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483) iv. xxxi. 80 He draweth a depe sighe fro the herte rote. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xvi. 372 Rowland..sawe not durandall his swerd, wherof he dyde caste a grete syghe. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems viii. 2 Thou may complain with sighis lamentable The death of Bernard Stewart. 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars i. lxxxvii, Wringing her hands (as one that griev'd and prayd) With sighes commixt with words. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 287 Stopping the Cariere Of Laughter, with a sigh. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xix. 440 In their sighes they breathed many a prosperous gale to Nassau's party. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 7 ¶1 The Lady..said to her Husband with a Sigh, My Dear, Misfortunes never come Single. 1757 Gray Clerke 14 A sigh; an unavailing tear. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. II. ii. 19 A sigh uttered from the fulness of the heart, an involuntary aspiration born and dying in the same moment. 1878 M. A. Brown tr. Runeberg's Nadeschda 38 A sigh of admiration is His full heart's only language now. |
| transf. 1817 Keats I stood tip-toe 12 There crept A..noiseless noise among the leaves, Born of the very sigh that silence heaves. |
| β 1513 Douglas æneid xiii. v. 115 Drawand the sobbis hard and sychis smart. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. xi. 116 With sobbing sych I to ȝou send This my complaint. 1593 A. Hume Treat. Consc. vi, [He] will vtter his passions..with sichis, and with sobbes. 17.. Ramsay Some of the Contents ix, His eisy sangs..Sall be esteimd quhyle sichs saft lufe betray. 1802 R. Anderson Cumbld. Ball. (c 1850) 32 Now, hey for seeghs and sugar words. 1879 G. Macdonald Sir Gibbie xlvi, She gae a gret sich, an' a sab. |
2. transf. A sound made by the wind, suggestive of a sigh.
| 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. xi, Creeping shrubs, of thousand dyes, Waved in the west-wind's summer sighs. 1815 Shelley Alastor 8 Autumn's hollow sighs in the sere wood. 1848 L. Hunt Jar of Honey v. 64 Like the sigh that answers a wind over a churchyard. |
3. Comb., as sigh-blown, sigh-born, sigh-broken, sigh-clogged, sigh-like, sigh-swollen, etc.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 396 At length he ended His oft sigh-broken dittie. 1601 Markham Mary Magd. 3rd Lament 15, I will suppresse my sigh-swolne sadnesse. 1611 Cotgr., Han, the..sigh-like voyce, wherewith woodcleauers, &c., keepe time to their stroakes. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, The Collar 19 Recover all thy sigh-blown age On double pleasures. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche xvii. lxiii, With such potent passion did she breath That sigh-clogg'd Word. a 1847 Eliza Cook Under the Moon ix. 1 We may breathe a farewell in a sigh-deepened tone. 1849 De Quincey Eng. Mail Coach Wks. 1862 IV. 331 Suggesting solemn and sigh-born thoughts. 1873 Brennan Witch of Nemi 12 Bathed in the streams of sigh-fermented tears. 1911 J. A. Thomson Biol. of Seasons ii. 193 When the young bird appears to be contented and very comfortable, it utters a plaintive, almost sigh-like cheep. 1964 J. C. Catford in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 32 Auditory effect, ‘sigh-like’ mixture of breath and voice: one form of voiced [h]. |
▪ II. sigh, v.
(saɪ, Sc. sɪx)
Forms: α. 4 sihe(n, 4–5 syhe(n, 5 syh(gh)yn; 4–5 siȝ(h)e, siȝȝe (4 six-), syȝ(h)e, 5 sye. β. 4–5 sighen, 4–7 sighe (5 sighye?), 5–6 syghe, 6– sigh. γ. Sc. 5–6 sych, 5–6, 9 sich. δ. 4–6 seigh, 5 seye (?), 6 segh; Sc. 5 seych, 9 seich, sech. ε. pa. tense 6–7 (9 dial.) sight (7 sigh't), 6 seight.
[ME. sihen, siȝen, sighen, etc., prob. a back-formation on sihte, siȝte, pa. tense of siche v., through the guttural having more phonetic appropriateness than the palatal sound. The old pa. tense, however, survived in literary use down to the 17th cent.; it may also have been the source of the variant sight v.2 Further variations are sithe v. and the dialect sife, siff.]
1. a. intr. To emit, give, or heave a sigh.
In ME. freq. in phrase to sigh sore.
| α 13.. Cursor M. 2959 (Gött.), Abraham syhid in his hert ful sare. 1382 Wyclif Joshua xv. 18 She siȝide [1388 siȝȝide], as she sat in the asse. ― Job iii. 24 Er I shul ete, I siȝhe. c 1420 Prymer (1895) 34 To þee we siȝen, gronynge in þis valey of teeris. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 455/2 Syhghyn, for mornynge (K. syhyn..), suspiro. |
| β a 1300 Cursor M. 14221 Quen thomas..Hard þat ded was lazarus,..He sighed sar. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 319 Sche fond non amendement To syghen. a 1400–50 Alexander 5584 Þe berne..Sighis selcuthly sare & sadli he wepis. 1434 Misyn Mending Life 130 It is no meruell þof it say syghand: ‘Qwho sall gif me þe, my broþer?’ 1530 Palsgr. 718/1 He syghed tyll his herte dyd nerehande bruste. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 342 To sigh, and to wincke as thoughe he were a slepe. 1669 Dryden Tyrannic Love iii. i, And when his strength is wanting to his mind, Looks back, and sighs on what he left behind. 1697 ― Virg. Georg. iv. 673 On thee,..in Desarts all alone, He call'd, sigh'd, sung. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 1188 They..talk'd the flowing heart, Or sigh'd and look'd unutterable things. 1781 Cowper Expost. 722 My soul shall sigh in secret, and lament A nation scourg'd. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xli, The young knight sighed, therefore, and held his peace. 1854 Tennyson Marr. Geraint 307 Then sigh'd and smiled the hoary-headed Earl. |
| γ 1375 Barbour Bruce iii. 350 Men mycht haiff sene..knychtis, for thar luffis sak, Baith sich, and wep. c 1470 Henry Wallace ix. 972 Wallace tharfor sichit with hart full sar. 1508 Dunbar Twa Mariit Wemen 446, I sich, without sair hert, or seiknes in body. 1583 Leg. Bp. St. Androis 459 The vther gaid hame..Sichand, and durst say no mair. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 113 She sicht sair i' her bed. 1884 D. Grant Lays & Leg. North 92 The Cooper didna sich an' grain. |
| δ 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 89 He seighed & sayde, ‘sore it me athynketh’. c 1400 St. Alexius 122 (Laud MS. 108), His fader at hom seyetȝ sore, & seyþ ‘allas! allas!’ c 1440 Generydes 1416 Ye seigh gretly, I prae yow telle me why. 1529 More Dyaloge i. Wks. 130/2 Some sely woman seking saint Sythe when she seghyth for miscasting of her kayes. 1877 Neilson Poems 57 (E.D.D.), They sech loud an' lang. 1883 Currie Poems 44 (E.D.D.), Nae langer noo I seich and mane. |
| ε ? c 1550 Sir Andrew Barton in Surtees Misc. (1890) 65 The merchauntes answered, soore they sight. 1592 Breton Pilgr. Paradise Wks. (Grosart) I. 14/2 Shrinking downe, it sight, and spake no more. 1633 Cowley Poet. Blossoms, Constantia & Philetus 329 With that..He sight, as if they'd coole his torment's ire. 1689 Carlile Fortune-Hunters i. i, He lookt indeed and sight, and set his Cravat-string, and sight agen. 1828 Carr Craven Gloss., Sight, sighed. |
b. fig. and transf.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 783 Nature from her seat Sighing through all her Works gave signs of woe. 1708 Brit. Apollo No. 83. 3/1 To hear her after, Sigh in Welsh, (Which ill-bred Clowns will call a Belch). 1775 Sheridan Duenna i. i, Tell me, my lute, can thy soft strain..So softly sing, so humbly sigh, That [etc.]? |
c. Of the wind, trees, etc.: To make or give out a sound suggestive of a sigh.
| 1757 Gray Bard 24 Hark, how each giant-oak, and desert cave, Sighs to the torrent's aweful voice beneath! 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 104 Like yon neglected shrub..That..sighs at every blast. 1820 Scott Monast. ix, A chill easterly wind was sighing among the withered leaves. 1830 Tennyson Claribel 4 The solemn oaktree sigheth. 1855 ― Maud i. xxii. vii, Whenever a March-wind sighs He sets the jewel-print of your feet In violets. |
2. a. To express desire or longing by the utterance of sighs; hence, to wish or long ardently. Const. for († after), or to with inf.
| 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Phil. 8 Yet in soule our conuersacion is in heauen, sighing continuallye thither. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, In aliquam suspirare, to sigh after one, or for one. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. viii. 20, I was belou'd of many a gentle Knight,..Full many a one for me deepe groand and sight. 1604 E. G[rimstone] tr. D'Acosta's Hist. Indies i. vi. 18 Many Spaniards..sigh for Spaine, having no discourse, but of their countrie. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 205 ¶3 The Foreigner sighs after some British Beauty, whom he only knows by Fame. 1746 Francis tr. Horace, Ep. i. xx. 5 You..fondly praise The public World, even sighing to be read,—Unhappy Book! 1847 Marryat Childr. N. Forest iv, He sighed for the time when the King's cause should be again triumphant. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. 11, Long have I sigh'd for a calm. |
b. To be sorry, feel sorrow. Const. that, to.
| 1642 H. More Song of Soul i. iii. 39 Fair semblances these Apterites Do make of good, and sighen very sore, That God no stronger is. 1670 Dryden Conq. Granada i. iii. i, May your Heroick Act so prosperous be, That Almahide may sigh you set her free. 1734 Pope Ess. Man iv. 148 And which more blest? who chain'd his country, say, Or he whose Virtue sigh'd to lose a day? |
3. trans. a. To speak or utter (words, etc.) with a sigh. Chiefly with advs., as forth and out.
| 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 117 b, Some sighes out their woordes. Some synges their sentences. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iii. i. 13 To..sigh a note and sing a note. 1607 ― Cor. i. i. 209 They..sigh'd forth Prouerbes. 1624 Quarles Job Militant §8 Bvt wretched Iob, sigh't forth these words, and said, Ah me! 1797 Jane Austen Sense & Sens. xxxvii, Marianne sighed out her similar apprehension. 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Man of Many Fr. (Colburn) 120 It is rather too late..for you and I to sit up sighing out romances in real life. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 1341 The Queen..sigh'd in passing, ‘Lancelot, Forgive me’. 1879 M. E. Braddon Clov. Foot xxxviii, ‘Yes,’ sighed Celia, ‘He went early on Tuesday morning’. |
b. To emit, give out, impart, etc., by sighing. Freq. with advs., as away, forth, out. Also transf.
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. i. 20 [I] Haue..sigh'd my English breath in forraine Clouds. 1607 ― Cor. iv. v. 121 Neuer man Sigh'd truer breath. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 273 Sapores..sighed out his affrighted ghost, at the age..of seventy one. 1725 Pope Odyss. xiv. 51 Far from his country roams my hapless lord! Or sigh'd in exile forth his latest breath. a 1796 Burns On a Bank of Flowers iii, He gaz'd, he wish'd, he fear'd, he blush'd, And sigh'd his very soul. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lxxxv[i]. iii, Sweet after showers, ambrosial air,..sigh The full new life that feeds thy breath Throughout my frame. 1875 Farrar Silence & Voices i. 5 Hundreds of martyrs sighed away their souls amid the flames. |
c. With cognate obj.
| 1789 Blake Songs Innoc. f. 6, Think not, thou canst sigh a sigh, And thy maker is not by. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre II. ii. 37 She sighed a sigh of ineffable satisfaction, as if her cup of happiness were now full. 1888 Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere III. xli. 225 Robert sighed a long sigh. |
4. a. To spend, consume, or while away (time) by sighing. Also with away and out.
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 204 Thou wilt needes thrust thy necke into a yoke,..and sigh away sundaies. 1653 Milton Ps. vi. 11 Wearied I am with sighing out my dayes. 1700 Prior Carmen Sec. 229 Sighing the Moments that defer Our Ease. |
b. To bring into a certain state or condition by sighing. Also transf. and refl.
| 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. i. ii. 178 Thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders, that a milke-maid, if she be in loue, may sigh it off. 1813 Scott Rokeby ii. i, The gale had sigh'd itself to rest. 1850 Mrs. Browning Sonn., Prospect, As fretful children do, Leaning their faces on the window⁓pane To sigh the glass dim. |
5. a. To lament (an event, circumstance, etc.) with sighing.
| c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. xxx, I sigh the lacke of many a thing I sought. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. 111, No..kinsman left To weepe my fate, or sigh my funerall. 1695 Prior Ode Queen's Death, Ages to come..Shall bless her Name, and sigh her Fate. |
† b. To desire or long for (something). Obs.
| 1650 Earl of Monmouth tr. Senault's Man bec. Guilty 224 God's beauty is then..that, that we ought to sigh, all other desires are unjust. |
▪ III. sigh
erron. var. of sith, since; obs. var. sye.