See Also: ache(medicine)
ache(3)(dictionary)
ache(2)(dictionary)
ache(1)(dictionary)
Ache(finance)
AChE (acetylcholinesterase)(health)
stomach ache(medicine)
bone ache(medicine)
ache 1, verb(dictionary)
ache 2, noun(dictionary)

ache(3) (iou)



ache verb intrans. Also (arch.) ake.
[Old English acan, corresp. to forms in West Germanic; possible cognates in other Indo-European langs. are Greek agos sin, guilt, Sanskrit agas. See note below.]
Suffer or be the source of continuous or prolonged dull pain or mental distress.
S. Richardson Does not your heart ake for your Harriet? Sherwood Anderson I ached to see that race. T. Sharpe The joints in his knees ached.
? Orig. a strong verb like take, shake, but with weak inflections since ME. Historically the verb is ake, the noun ache (see note s.v. ACHE noun1). Dr Johnson is mainly responsible for the mod. spellings, as he erroneously derived them from Greek akhos 'pain' and declared them 'more grammatically written ache'.
achingly adverb so as to cause continuous dull pain M19.