plaint
English
Etymology
From Middle English plainte, borrowed from Anglo-Norman plainte (“lamentation”), plaint (“lament”), and Old French pleinte (“lamentation”), pleint (“lament”) (modern French plainte), from Medieval Latin plancta (“plaint”), from Latin planctus (“a beating of the breast in lamentation, beating, lamentation”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin plango (“I beat the breast, I lament”); see plain.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 331: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /pleɪnt/
- Rhymes: -eɪnt
Noun
plaint (plural plaints)
- (poetic or archaic) A lament or woeful cry.
- 1827, Maria Elizabeth Budden, Nina, An Icelandic Tale, page 11:
- In the first paroxysm of his grief, Ingolfr exclaimed, (what sorrowing heart has not echoed his plaint?) that he could never more taste of joy.
- 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Chapter V, p. 75, [1]
- His shriek was as feeble as the plaint of a grass-stalk in a storm.
- 1827, Maria Elizabeth Budden, Nina, An Icelandic Tale, page 11:
- A complaint.
- 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:
- she seemed to repeat, though with perceptible resignation, her plaint of a moment before. ‘Your father, darling, is a very odd person indeed.’
- 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:
- (archaic) A sad song.
- (archaic or UK law) An accusation.
- Once the plaint had been made there was nothing that could be done to revoke it.
Related terms
Further reading
- “plaint”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “plaint”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
French
Etymology
From Middle French plaint, pleint, from Old French plaint, pleint, from Latin planctus.
Verb
plaint (feminine plainte, masculine plural plaints, feminine plural plaintes)
Related terms
Anagrams
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- English terms inherited from Middle English
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