puling

[ pyoo-ling ]

/ ˈpyu lɪŋ /

adjective

whining; whimpering: a puling child.

Words nearby puling

pule, pulesati, pulex, puli, pulicicide, puling, pulitzer, pulitzer prize, pulitzer prizes, pulj, pulk

Origin of puling

First recorded in 1520–30; pule + -ing²

OTHER WORDS FROM puling

pul·ing·ly, adverb

Definition for puling (2 of 2)

pule

[ pyool ]

/ pyul /

verb (used without object), puled, pul·ing.

to cry in a thin voice; whine; whimper.

Origin of pule

First recorded in 1525–35; perhaps imitative

OTHER WORDS FROM pule

pul·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for puling

We are accustomed nowadays to a great deal of puling over the circumstances in which we are placed.
The Pocket R.L.S.|Robert Louis Stevenson
Are all her laws suspended, that she might transform, in an instant, a puling trifler into a perfect woman?
Caxton's Book: A Collection of Essays, Poems, Tales, and Sketches.|W. H. Rhodes
We came in puling and naked, and every stitch must come off before we get out again.
The Return|Walter de la Mare
The puling voice is crushed by the chorus, which protests that the heavens are above Count Orso.
Vittoria, Complete|George Meredith

Away with this whimpering, this puling, these blubbering tears, and these wet eyes!
The Mermaid Series. Edited by H. Ellis. The best plays of the old dramatists. Thomas Dekker. Edited, with an introduction and notes by Ernest Rhys.|Thomas Dekker

British Dictionary definitions for puling

pule

/ (pjuːl) /

verb

(intr) to cry plaintively; whimper

Derived forms of pule

puler, noun

Word Origin for pule

C16: perhaps of imitative origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012