What does "cry" mean?
Cry: Clapping their hands, and crying with loud voice. Shak. Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee. Ps. xxviii.
Additional senses
- 2.The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Is. xl.
- 3.Some cried after him to return. Bunyan.
- 4.To utter lamentations; to lament audibly; to express pain, grief, or distress, by weeping and sobbing; to shed tears; to bawl, as a child. Ye shall cry for sorrow of heart. Is. lxv.
- 5.I could find it in my heart to disgrace my man's apparel and to cry like a woman. Shak.
- 6.To utter inarticulate sounds, as animals. The young ravens which cry. Ps. cxlvii.
- 7.In a cowslip's bell I lie There I couch when owls do cry. Shak. To cry on or upon, to call upon the name of; to beseech."No longer on Saint Denis will we cry." Shak. -- To cry out. (a) To exclaim; to vociferate; to scream; to clamor. (b) To complain loudly; to lament. -- To cry out against, to complain loudly of; to censure; to blame. -- To cry out on or upon, to denounce; to censure. "Cries out upon abuses." Shak. -- To cry to, to call on in prayer; to implore. -- To cry you mercy, to beg your pardon. "I cry you mercy, madam; was it you" Shak.
- 8.To utter loudly; to call out; to shout; to sound abroad; to declare publicly. All, all, cry shame against ye, yet I 'll speak. Shak. The man . . . ran on,crying, Life! life! Eternal life! Bunyan.
- 9.To cause to do something, or bring to some state, by crying or weeping; as, to cry one's self to sleep.
- 10.To make oral and public proclamation of; to declare publicly; to notify or advertise by outcry, especially things lost or found, goods to be sold, ets.; as, to cry goods, etc. Love is lost, and thus she cries him. Crashaw.
- 11.Hence, to publish the banns of, as for marriage. I should not be surprised if they were cried in church next Sabbath. Judd. To cry aim. See under Aim. -- To cry down, to decry; to depreciate; to dispraise; to condemn. Men of dissolute lives cry down religion, because they would not be under the restraints of it. Tillotson. -- To cry out, to proclaim; to shout."Your gesture cries it out." Shak. -- To cry quits, to propose, or declare, the abandonment of a contest. -- To cry up, to enhance the value or reputation of by public and noisy praise; to extol; to laud publicly or urgently.
- 12.A loud utterance; especially, the inarticulate sound produced by one of the lower animals; as, the cry of hounds; the cry of wolves. Milton.
- 13.Outcry; clamor; tumult; popular demand. Again that cry was found to have been as unreasonable as ever. Macaulay.
- 14.Any expression of grief, distress, etc., accompanied with tears or sobs; a loud sound, uttered in lamentation. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land. Ex. xi.
- 15.An infant crying in the night, An infant crying for the light; And with no language but a cry. Tennyson.
- 16.Loud expression of triumph or wonder or of popular acclamation or favor. Swift. The cry went once on thee. Shak.
- 17.Importunate supplication. O, the most piteous cry of the poor souls. Shak.
- 18.Public advertisement by outcry; proclamation, as by hawkers of their wares. The street cries of London. Mayhew.
- 19.Common report; fame. The cry goes that you shall marry her. Shak.
- 20.A word or phrase caught up by a party or faction and repeated for effect; as, the party cry of the Tories. All now depends upon a good cry. Beaconsfield.
- 21.A pack of hounds. Milton. A cry more tunable Was never hollaed to, nor cheered with horn. Shak.
- 22.A pack or company of persons; -- in contempt. Would not this . . . get me a fellowship in a cry of players Shak.
- 23.The cracklling noise made by block tin when it is bent back and forth. A far cry, a long distance; -- in allusion to the sending of criers or messengers through the territory of a Scottish clan with an announcement or summons.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Steward: Jason Burns
- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00