weep

¹ American  

[weep] / wip /

verb (used without object)

wept, weeping

1. to express grief, sorrow, or any overpowering emotion by shedding tears; shed tears; cry.

   to weep for joy;

   to weep with rage.

   Synonyms:

   lament, wail, sob

   Antonyms:

   rejoice, laugh

2. to let fall drops of water or other liquid; drip; leak.

   The old water tank was weeping at the seams.

3. to exude water or liquid, as soil, a rock, a plant stem, or a sore.

---

verb (used with object)

wept, weeping

1. to weep for (someone or something); mourn with tears or other expression of sorrow.

   He wept his dead brother.

   Synonyms:

   lament, bemoan, bewail

2. to shed (tears); pour forth in weeping.

   to weep tears of gratitude.

3. to let fall or give forth in drops.

   trees weeping an odorous gum.

4. to pass, bring, put, etc., to or into a specified condition with the shedding of tears (usually followed by away, out, etc.).

   to weep one's eyes out;

   to weep oneself to sleep.

noun

1. weeping, or a fit of weeping.

2. the exudation of water or liquid.

weep ² American  

[weep] / wip /

noun

British Dialect.

1. the lapwing, Vanellus vanellus, of Europe.

---

weep British  

/ wiːp /

verb

1. to shed (tears) as an expression of grief or unhappiness

2. to utter, shedding tears

3. to mourn or lament (for something)

4. to exude (drops of liquid)

5. (intr) (of a wound, etc) to exude a watery or serous fluid

---

noun

1. a spell of weeping

Etymology

Origin of weep¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English wepen, Old English wēpan “to wail”; cognate with Gothic wōpjan “to call,” Old Norse æpa “to cry out”

Origin of weep²

Imitative

Example Sentences

In a meticulously crafted stop-motion world of gritty dockside poverty, a starving waif discovers the neglected girl in a shabby home weeps not teardrops but pearls.

From Los Angeles Times

And well she might have wept, because in October her presence at the Milan-Cortina Games hung in the balance.

From Barron's

And while neither Marty nor Ani win their intended goal, they both end up weeping cathartic tears.

From Los Angeles Times

And then when she gave the screenplay, I read it and wept.

From Los Angeles Times

When his father told Uncle Bob that he was taking Tomás with them, Uncle Bob almost wept.

From Literature

Related Words

• break down
• complain
• grieve
• howl
• moan
• mourn
• sob
• wail
• whimper