See Also: wail(1)(dictionary)
wail(2)(dictionary)
wail(dictionary)
widow-wail(medicine)

wail(2) (iou)



wail verb. ME.
[from Old Norse word from vei interjection = Old English wa WOE.]
verb intrans. Express pain, grief, etc., by prolonged high-pitched cries; utter a wail or wails. ME.
Guardian She didn't just cry. She wailed.
verb intrans. & trans. Lament or complain persistently and bitterly, say lamentingly, (that). ME.
A. Trollope He went on wailing, complaining of his lot as a child complains. S. Baring-Gould 'I wish I was dead,' wailed the poor creature.
verb intrans. Grieve bitterly. (Foll. by at, for.) LME.
verb trans. Feel deep sorrow for (a situation, event, etc.); mourn the loss of (a dead person etc.); bewail, lament. Now poet. & rhet. LME.
W. Morris Well then might Psyche wail her wretched fate.
verb intrans. Of the wind, music, a bird, etc.: give out a mournful sound like a person wailing. L16.
Chambers's Journal In the green reed-beds..teal whistled and plover wailed. P. Bowles A factory siren wailed.
verb intrans. Of a jazz or rock musician: play very well or with great feeling. Also foll. by away. US slang. M20.
wailer noun a person who wails; spec. a professional mourner: LME.
waily adjective (rare) (a) dial. full of woe; (b) (of a sound) resembling a wail: E19.