sigh

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a sound like a person sighing

   We heard the sigh of the wind in the trees.

2. 2
   verb

   To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like.

   When she saw it wasn't damaged, she sighed with relief.

3. 3
   verb

   To lament; to grieve.

   He sighed deeply in his spirit.

4. 4
   verb

   To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.

   Ages to come, and men unborn, / Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate.

5. 5
   verb

   To make a sound like sighing.

   The wind sighed in the trees.

6. 6
   verb

   To exhale (the breath) in sighs.

   She sighed a sigh that was nearly a groan.

7. 7
   verb

   To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.

   "I guess I have no choice," she sighed.

8. 8
   noun

   A deep, prolonged audible inhale and exhale of breath; as when fatigued, frustrated, grieved, or relieved; the act of sighing.

   To Pollyanna the air was all the more stifling after that cool breath of the out of doors; but she did not complain. She only drew a long quivering sigh.

Etymology

From Middle English sighen (“to sigh”), back-formation from sighte, past tense form of siken, from Old English sīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *sīkan, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ- (“to pour out”).