Pa. t. and pa. pple. wearied. Forms: 1 (ʓe)wériʓian, (ʓe)wérʓian, wérian, 3 werȝe, 4–6 wery(e, werie, 6 weerie, 6–7 wearie, 6– weary. [OE. wér(i)ʓian, -ʓean intr., and ʓewérʓian trans., f. wériʓ WEARY a.]
I. intr. To grow weary.
1. To become tired; to suffer fatigue. Now rare.
c. 890. Wærferth, trans. Gregory’s Dial. 204. Þæt ilce mod æʓþer ʓe mid healicum mæʓnum weaxeð & stranʓað & eac of his aʓenre untrymnysse werʓað & teorað.
c. 900. Bæda’s Hist., I. xxvii. (1890), 78. Forðon hyngran, þyrstan, hatian, calan, wæriʓian, al þæt is of untrymnesse þæs ʓecyndes. Ibid., III. ix. 178. Þa ongon his hors semninga werʓian & ʓestondan.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 252. & ȝif þet heo werȝeð, euerichon wreoðeð him bi oðer.
1577. Grange, Golden Aphrod., etc., R j b. My hande with long holdyng werieth.
1686. P. Gordon, Diary (Spalding Club, 1859), 126. I had not ridden four miles when one of the horses wearyed.
a. 1776. Lizae Baillie, xi. in Child, Ballads, IV. 269. She was nae ten miles frae the town When she began to weary.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xxv. 9. Nor could I weary, heart or limb, When [etc.].
b. Of the heart, mind, patience, etc.: To become tired or exhausted. Also of a person, to grow dispirited or sick at heart.
1434. Misyn, Mending of Life, xi. 124. Stedfastly he bidys in body & werus not in hart.
1600. in Harington Nugæ Antiq. (1779), II. 257. Thus I will lay down my quill, which seldom wearys in a friendly tale.
1650. J. Carstaires, Lett. (1846), 74. I hope he [God] keeps you from wearieing in reference to the delay of our libertie.
1769. Eliz. Carter, Lett. (1809), III. xlvii. 379. The spirit wearies with perpetual dissipation.
1829. Herschel, Ess. (1857), 514. That diligence which never wearies,… goes on adding grain by grain to the mass of results.
1891. E. Peacock, N. Brendon, II. 76. His poetic mind never wearied.
c. To become affected with tedium or ennui.
1798. Monthly Mag., Dec., 436. [‘Improper expressions used in Edinburgh’] I weary when I am alone; I become weary.
1853. G. J. Cayley, Las Alforjas, II. 288. There is one kind and sympathising spirit which does not weary over my dilated gossip.
2. With various constructions. a. To grow tired of (something, doing something); to do (= of doing) or to be (= of being) (arch. or poet.); also with pres. pple.
a. 1225. Juliana, 22. For ne werȝeð he neauer to wurchen ow al þat wandreðe world a buten ende.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 12997. Thai werit of þere werke þe wallis to kepe.
c. 1475. Wisdom, 847, in Macro Plays, 63. Þat of hys lyff he xall wery, & qwak for very fere.
c. 1480. Henryson, Swallow & other Birds, 1891. Quhilk day and nicht weryis not for to ga Sawand poysoun … In mannis Saull.
1627. Bp. P. Forbes, Eubulus, 15. Whence anie, who in singlenesse seeketh Resolution will not wearie to search it.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, II. iv. She now wearied of passing all her time by herself, and sighed for the comfort of society.
1829. Carlyle, in Foreign Rev., IV. 120. Into the ocean of air he gazed incessantly; and never wearied contemplating its clearness.
a. 1834. Coleridge, Lit. Rem., II. 376. How the mind wearies of, and shrinks from, the more than painful interest, the μισητὸν, of utter depravity.
1846. G. Warburton, Hochelaga, I. 217. The eye does not weary to see, but the hand aches, in even writing the one word—beauty.
1859. Tennyson, Elaine, 628. He … had ridd’n a random round To seek him, and had wearied of the search. Ibid., 894. As a little helpless innocent bird … Will sing the simple passage o’er and o’er…, till the ear Wearies to hear it.
1876. L. Stephen, Eng. Th. 18th C., I. 356. It is not wonderful that a man pursuing so vast a plan … should have wearied of his task before it was completed.
b. To suffer weariness from long waiting or deferred hope; to wait wearily for or to do (something), or through (a period of time); to long or languish for something. Chiefly Sc.
1809. Syd. Smith, Serm., II. 131. Why may it not … induce him to carry on the load of life who pants, and wearies for the grave.
1818. Hogg, Brownie of Bodsbeck, II. iii. 42. I hae wearied to see them.
a. 1830. H. Cockburn, Memor. (1856), 155. The Lord Advocate … generally leaves his representatives … to endure the summing up, and to weary for the verdict.
1830. Galt, Lawrie T., III. vi. [They were] watching the corpse and wearying for my return.
1856. Whewell, in Life (1881), 480. I was beginning to weary for a letter from you.
1866. ‘Annie Thomas,’ Played Out, I. ix. 153. A congregation of women assembled immediately after a dinner, wearying through the hour before the men rejoin them.
1876. Whitby Gloss., s.v., They keep me wearying for dinner.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, viii. I have just been wearying to see you.
1888. R. Buchanan, Heir of Linne, iii. I was wearying to speak with you.
1894. G. Moore, Esther Waters, 39. She wearied for a companion.
3. quasi-trans. with out: To go wearily through to the end of.
1594–5. Merchant’s Daughter of Bristow, I. vi. in Roxb. Ball. (1872), II. I. 87. There will I waste and wearie out my dayes in woe.
1648. Gage, West Ind., xvii. 114. After I had here wearied out the wearinesse, which I brought in my bones from the Cuchumatlanes.
1889. Boy’s Own Paper, 17 Aug., 730/2. I soon forgot to be sorry for Sister Mary, left to weary out the holidays in vacant loneliness.
II. trans. To make weary.
4. To exhaust the strength or endurance of (a person, his limbs, etc.); to fatigue or tire with toil, sickness, watching, sustained mental effort, etc.
Beowulf, 2852. He ʓewerʓad sæt.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxxv. 239. He … ʓewerʓað ðonne his heortan suiðe hearde mid ðy ʓesuince.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives (1900), I. 192. Þurh godes fore-stihtunge ne hors ne he sylf ʓewerʓod wæs.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 796. He hade weryede the worme [sc. dragon] by wyghtnesse of strenghte, Ne ware it fore the wylde fyre that he hyme wyth defendez.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 522/2. Weryyn, or make wery, fatigo, lasso.
1530. Palsgr., 779/1. I werye by over moche labour or travayle, je lasse.… This horse trotteth so harde that he hath weryed me more than I was a gret whyle.
1563. Golding, Cæsar, I. (1565), 18 b. Many hauing a long time wearied their armes, chose rather to cast their targets out of their hands.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxxi. § 10. They in the practise of their religion wearied chiefly their knees and hands, we especially our eares & tongues.
1610. Shaks., Temp., III. i. 19. Pray set it downe, and rest you: when this [log] burnes ’Twill weepe for hauing wearied you.
1657. Earl Monm., trans. Paruta’s Pol. Disc., 186. By drawing out the War in length, they might think to weary and disorder the Enemy.
1675. J. Owen, Indwelling Sin, ix. (1732), 107. They brought their Offerings or Sacrifices on their Shoulders, which they pretended wearyed them, and they panted and blowed as Men ready to faint under them.
1759. Johnson, Rasselas, iv. Resolving to weary by perseverance, him whom he could not surpass in speed.
1825. Scott, Talism., vi. A mighty curtal axe, which would have wearied the arm of any other than Cœur de Lion. Ibid. (1825), Betrothed, xi. She wearied her memory with vain efforts to recollect … his features.
1859. Tennyson, Elaine, 827. ‘Alas,’ he said, ‘your ride hath wearied you.’
b. transf. and fig.
1573–80. Baret, Alv., P 496. If the vine be wearied with plentifull bearing.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1363. So woe hath wearied woe, mone tired mone. Ibid., 1570. Thus ebs and flowes the currant of her sorrow, And time doth wearie time with her complayning.
1604. Jas. I., Counterbl. to Tobacco (Arb.), 108. So being euer and continually vsed, it [medicine] doth but weaken, wearie and weare nature.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 638. Then roaring Beasts, and running Streams he tryes, And wearies all his Miracles of Lies.
c. With adv. or advb. phr.; esp. to weary out, to fatigue completely, so as to render incapable of further exertion.
1647. Cowley, Mistress, Thraldom, v. Like an Egyptian Tyrant, some Thou weariest out, in building but a Tomb.
1670. Dryden, 1st Pt. Conq. Granada, IV. (1672), 35. In walls we meanly must our hopes inclose, To wait our friends, and weary out our foes.
1829. Landor, Imag. Conv., Greeks & Rom. (1853), 352. Whose movements would have irritated, distracted, and wearied down the elephants.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, lv. He was stupefied, and he was wearied to death.
1859. Tennyson, Vivien, 586. Then he found a door…; And wearied out made for the couch and slept.
5. To tire the patience of; to affect with tedium or ennui; to satiate (with). Also with out.
1340. Ayenb., 99. He wolde þet hit were ssort uor þet non ne ssolde him werye hit uor to lyerny.
c. 1385. Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol. & T., 751. It weerieth me to telle of his falsnesse.
c. 1460. Sir R. Ros, La Belle Dame, 62. It werieth me this mater for to trete.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, x. 271. How am I shamed for four glotons! certes this weryes me sore!
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., 115 b. But nowe because I haue halfe weried the reader with a tedious matter, I will harten him agayne wyth a merye tale.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., V. ii. 56. I will wearie you then no longer with idle talking.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 107. Till God at last Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw His presence from among them.
1675. E. W[ilson], Spadacr. Dunelm., Pref. And now, good Reader, I have even wearied thee out.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xvi. Our patience is wearied already.
1798. Sophia Lee, Canterb, T., Young Lady’s T., II. 384. Wearied out at last by the tender importunity … she reluctantly look solemn charge of the child.
1830. Tennyson, Lilian, iii. Gaiety without eclipse Wearieth me.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvi. III. 649. He was … doing his best to weary out his benefactor’s patience and good breeding.
1877. Mrs. Oliphant, Makers Flor., v. 138. Oddly enough, however, this excessive applause wearied the simple-minded artist.
1883. ‘Ouida,’ Wanda, I. 206. He had a sensitive fear of wearying with his presence ladies to whom he owed so much.
b. To trouble by importunity (heaven, the gods, etc.).
1633. Ford, ’Tis Pity, I. iii. I have even wearied heaven with pray’rs.
a. 1718. Prior, Henry & Emma, 411. Watchful I’ll guard Thee, and with Midnight Pray’r Weary the Gods to keep Thee in their Care.
1831. Scott, Quentin D., Introd. He … wearied Heaven and every saint with prayers … for the prolongation of his life.
1846. H. G. Robinson, Odes of Hor., II. xviii. I weary not The Gods to mend my present lot.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xv. 227. There, for sixteen months, to weary Heaven and his friends with his lamentations.
c. absol. To cause weariness or ennui.
1815. Sir R. Peel, in Croker Papers (1884), I. III. 76. Which would have been ludicrous enough for half an hour, but, like other good things, wearied by constant repetition.
1849. Lever, Con Cregan, xx. There was so much novelty to me in all around, that the monotonous character of the scene never wearied.
Hence Wearying vbl. sb.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 252. Vondunge is sliddrunge: & þuruh werȝunge beoð bitocned þeo unðeauwes under slouhðe þet beoð inemned þer uppe.
1621. Bp. Hall, Heaven upon Earth, § 4. Hence are those vaine wearyings of places and companies together with our selues.
