weep

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To cry; to shed tears, especially when accompanied with sobbing or other difficulty speaking, as an expression of emotion such as sadness or joy.

   They wept together in silence.

2. 2
   verb

   To lament; to complain.

   They weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.

3. 3
   verb

   To hang the branches, as if in sorrow; to be pendent; to droop; said of a plant or its branches.

   The willows weep and the moonbeams sleep / On the mariner's silent grave.

4. 4
   verb

   To weep over; to bewail.

   Fair Venus wept the sad disaster Of having lost her favorite dove.

5. 5
   noun

   A session of crying.

   Sometimes you just have to have a good weep.

6. 6
   noun

   A sob.

   He's coming, too, and we both want to mingle our weeps over the wine-cup[.]

7. 7
   verb

   shed tears because of sadness, rage, or pain

8. 8
   verb

   To give off moisture in small quantities, e.g. due to condensation.

Etymology

From Middle English wepen, from Old English wēpan (“to weep, complain, bewail, mourn over, deplore”), from Proto-West Germanic *wōpijan, from Proto-Germanic *wōpijaną (“to weep”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂b- (“to call, cry, complain”). Cognate with Scots weep (“to weep”), Saterland Frisian wapia (“to cry, complain”), Icelandic æpa (“to yell, shout”), Proto-Slavic *vъpiti (“to weep”).