whimper
English
Etymology
From dialectal whimp (“to whine”) + -er (frequentative suffix). Compare German wimmern (“to whimper, whine”).
Pronunciation
Noun
whimper (plural whimpers)
- A low intermittent sob.
Translations
a low intermittent sob
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Verb
whimper (third-person singular simple present whimpers, present participle whimpering, simple past and past participle whimpered)
- To cry or sob softly and intermittently.
- The lonely puppy began to whimper as soon as we left the room.
- 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
- At the sight of Mr. Utterson, the housemaid broke into hysterical whimpering; and the cook, crying out "Bless God! it's Mr. Utterson," ran forward as if to take him in her arms.
- To cry with a low, whining, broken voice; to whine; to complain.
- Latimer
- Was there ever yet preacher but there were gainsayers that spurned, that winced, that whimpered against him?
- Latimer
- To say something in a whimpering manner.
- 2019 May 12, Alex McLevy, “Westeros faces a disastrous final battle on the penultimate Game of Thrones (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club[1]:
- Stripped of all bravado, Cersei breaks, and shows the very scared, vulnerable woman who has kept her emotions at bay. “I don’t want to die,” she whimpers, “Not like this.” It’s all the more moving for coming from a character who built her identity on steely resolve and contempt for such hoary conceits as fear.
- "Master, please don't punish me!" he whimpered.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:weep
Derived terms
Translations
to cry or sob softly and intermittently
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