Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

cry

Pronunciation: /krʌɪ/

Translate cry | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of cry

verb (cries, crying, cried)

[no object]
  • 1shed tears in distress, pain, or sorrow:don’t cry—it’ll be all right [with object]:you’ll cry tears of joy
  • 2shout or scream in fear, pain, or grief:the little girl fell down and cried for mummy
  • [with direct speech] say something loudly in an excited or anguished tone of voice:‘Where will it end?’ he cried out
  • [with object] (of a hawker) proclaim (wares) for sale in the street.
  • 3(of a bird or other animal) make a loud characteristic call:the wild birds cried out over the water

noun (plural cries)

  • 1a loud inarticulate shout or scream expressing a powerful feeling or emotion:a cry of despair
  • a loud excited utterance of a word or words:there was a cry of ‘Silence!’
  • the call of a hawker selling wares on the street: street cries
  • an urgent appeal or entreaty:fund-raisers have issued a cry for help
  • a demand or opinion expressed by many people:peace became the popular cry
  • 2the loud characteristic call of a bird or other animal: the harsh cries of magpies
  • 3a spell of shedding tears:I still have a cry, sometimes, when I realize that my mother is dead

Phrases

cry one's eyes (or heart) out

weep bitterly and at length: I cried my eyes out when he fired me

cry for the moon

ask for what is unattainable or impossible: there must be no more self-pity, no more time wasted on crying for the moon

cry foul

protest strongly about a real or imagined wrong or injustice: deprived of the crushing victory it was confidently expecting, the party cried foul

cry from the heart

a passionate and honest appeal or protest.

cry stinking fish

British disparage one’s own efforts or products: those in racing should go forward together and stop crying stinking fish

cry wolf

see wolf.

for crying out loud

informal used to express one’s irritation or impatience:why do you have to take everything so personally, for crying out loud?

in full cry

(of hounds) baying in keen pursuit: the fox broke and the hounds followed in full cry
expressing an opinion loudly and forcefully:the prime minister was in full cry with warnings against the plots of the Americans

it's no use crying over spilt milk

see milk.

Phrasal Verbs

cry off

British informal go back on a promise or fail to keep to an arrangement:we were going to Spain together and he cried off at the last moment

cry out for

demand as a self-evident requirement or solution:the scheme cries out for reform

cry someone/thing up (or down)

dated praise (or disparage) someone or something:when one of them does something wrong, they cry down the lot

Origin:

Middle English (in the sense 'ask for earnestly or loudly'): from Old French crier (verb), cri (noun), from Latin quiritare 'raise a public outcry', literally 'call on the Quirites (Roman citizens) for help'

cry in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of cry in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

Word of the day

leporine

/ ˈlɛpərʌɪn /
adjective
of or resembling a hare or hares …