Also 3 woep, weop, 3, 4 wep, 3–6 wepe, 6 weepe. [f. WEEP v. Cf. WOPE.]
† 1. Weeping, lamentation. To burst a-weep: to burst out weeping. Obs.
c. 1205. Lay., 11991. Þe iherde þesne weop [cf. wop ibid. 5970, 15066].
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2328. He … broʓte hem bi-for iosep Wid reweli lote, and sorwe, and wep.
a. 1300. in Anecd. Lit. (1844), 90. Al the blisse of thisse live Thou shalt, mon, henden in woep.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 5721. For comunlych aftyr wepe, Fal men sone on slepe.
13[?]. K. Alis., 7871 (Laud MS.). Michel weep, mychel waylyng.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 408. She bygan to brest a wep a-noon.
a. 1425. Cursor M., 10496 (Trin.). Whil she mened þus hir mone Wiþ wepe [other texts weping] & sorwes mony one.
1512. Helyas, in Thoms, Pr. Rom. (1828), III. 116. The which in weepe piteously bewayled her good spouse.
1545. Hen. VIII’s Primer, Lauds, C iij b. Deuout prayer, meynt with wepe, Suffreth not the hart to slepe.
b. A fit or bout of weeping.
Also in ‘Hence these weeps,’ a burlesque alteration of ‘Hence these tears.’
1836. C. Shaw, Mem., etc. (1837), II. 574. I had nothing else for it, but in the middle of the night to go aside and have a very hearty weep by myself.
1876. J. P. Struthers, in Life & Lett., iv. (1918), 49. But those days are gone. Hence these weeps.
1886. Kipling, Departm. Ditties, Mare’s Nest, 43. There was a scene—a weep or two—With many kisses.
2. An exudation, percolation or sweating of moisture.
1838. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 213/2. Weeps which in iron would speedily be stopped by the natural operation of rust, go on in copper indefinitely, working their way like worms in wood.
1891. Century Dict., Weep, exudation, sweat, as of a gum-tree.
1901. Oxf. Times, 2 March, 3/4. The water … did not come by any jets or spouts … but by simple oozes or weeps or whatever term they used to describe what took place.
3. Comb.: † weep-drop, a drop of moisture like a tear; weep-hole, an opening through which water percolates or drips.
1509. Fisher, 7 Penit. Ps., li. Wks. (1876), 120. A mannes brethynge whan it toucheth ony thynge that is colde as yren or glasse, anone it is resolued in to wepe droppes of water.
1851. Colon. Mag., July, 8. The water … filters through the red sand, running through ‘weep holes’ made of brick, into a reservoir.
