groan

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   indicate pain, discomfort, or displeasure

   The students groaned when the professor got out the exam booklets.

2. 2
   noun

   A low, mournful sound uttered in pain or grief.

   Let out a groan.

3. 3
   verb

   To make a groan.

   We groaned at his awful jokes.

4. 4
   verb

   To seemingly creak under the strain of being heavily laden.

   That night the table in the outer dining room was just groaning with good things.

From Middle English gronen, granen, from Old English grānian (“to groan; lament; murmur”), from Proto-West Germanic *grainōn, from Proto-Germanic *grainōną (“to howl; weep”), from Proto-Germanic *grīnaną (“to whine; howl; whimper”). Cognate with Scots grain (“to cry, scream”), Dutch grijnen, grienen (“to cry; sob; blubber”), German Low German grienen (“to whimper; mewl”), German greinen (“to whine; whimper”), Swedish grina (“to howl; weep; laugh”). The noun is from Middle English gron, grone, from the verb.

Topics