Forms: 1 hwinan, 4–7 whyne, 5–6 wyne, 6 Sc. quhyn, (7 wheen), 8 wine, 4– whine. [OE. hwínan (only in Wídsíð 128, of the whizzing of an arrow) = ON. hvína (Sw. hvina, Da. hvine) to whiz, whistle in the air; the weak grade of the stem is represented in ON. hvinr whiz, late OE. hwinsian (of dogs) to whine (see WHINGE).]
1. intr. To utter a low somewhat shrill protracted sound or cry, usually expressive of pain or distress; to cry in a subdued plaintive tone: also occasionally merely referring to the tone. a. of persons.
c. 1275. Sinners Beware, 310, in O. E. Misc., 82. For chele hy gunne hwyne. For hunger hi hedde pyne.
13[?]. in Rel. Ant., II. 245. Ich rede tha come nou to me, anaunter last ha whyne.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 158. Not chauntyng nor brekyng your notes, nor whynynge in ye nose as many women done.
1534. More, Comf. agst. Trib., II. Wks. 1182/2. Yet canne thys peuyshe gyrl neuer ceace whining and pulyng for fear.
c. 1590. J. Stewart, Poems (S.T.S.), II. 54. Scho quhyns, Scho schrinks, Scho vreyis, Scho vips for vo.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., III. xiii. 101. Whip him … Till like a Boy you see him crindge his face, And whine aloud for mercy.
a. 1654. Selden, Table-T. (Arb.), 92. If a Man should make love in an ordinary Tone, his Mistress would not regard him; and therefore he must whine.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, To Whine, to cry squeekingly, as at Conventicles.
1727. Gay, Begg. Op., I. xiii. The Boy thus, when his Sparrow’s flown,… Whines, whimpers, sobs and cries.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, II. xiii. The crowd of beggars … whining for alms.
1868. Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women, viii. You can’t go, Amy; so don’t be a baby and whine about it.
b. of animals, esp. dogs; also formerly, to whinny as a horse, or to cry as an otter.
13[?]. Guy Warw. (A.), 1336. Þe helmes þai seyen briȝt schine, þe stedes nyen, and togider whine.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 386. As an hors I koude byte and whyne [v.r. whine].
c. 1400. Beryn, 481. He … scrapid the dorr welplich, & wynyd with his mowith, Aftir a doggis lyden.
1481. Caxton, Reynard, xxxiv. (Arb.), 97. I saide I was also hongry, thenne wente we … and fond nothyng, tho whyned he and cryed.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, 238. An Otter whineth.
1577. Whetstone, Gascoigne, xxix. The horse … will neither winch nor whine.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. i. 2. Thrice the brinded Cat hath mew’d … Thrice, and once the Hedge-Pigge whin’d.
1735. Somerville, Chase, II. 118. Let each Lash Bite to the Quick, ’till howling he return And whining creep amid the trembling Crowd.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., I. Song ‘Good Night,’ ix. Perchance my dog will whine in vain, Till fed by stranger hands.
1835. W. Irving, Tour Prairies, 272. Occasionally a scoundrel wolf would scour off … and … sit down and howl and whine.
c. transf. of inanimate objects.
1874. J. G. Holland, Mistr. Manse, xviii. 52. Till the old chimney howled and whined.
1885. Tennyson, Balin & Balan, 341. The canker’d boughs … Whined in the wood.
1901. Munsey’s Mag., XXIV. 555/1. The bullets … whined through the air.
2. To utter complaints in a low querulous tone; to complain in a feeble, mean or undignified way.
1530. Tindale, Num. xi. 18. Ye haue whyned in the eares of the Lorde saynge: who shall geue vs flesh to eate?
1568. Hist. Jacob & Esau, II. iv. See and the knaue be not for his dinner whining.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 29. Since Life is but as a Game at Tables, if the fore-game be not to thy wish; neither whine nor Curse, but rowse thy care to an after-Game.
1756. Johnson, in Boswell. I know not why any one but a school-boy in his declamation should whine over the Common-wealth of Rome. Ibid. (1769). A man knows it [sc. death] must be so, and submits. It will do him no good to whine.
1880. Dixon, Windsor, III. xxiv. 238. He had whined and begged for liberty.
1891. Kipling, Light that Failed, x. I won’t whine when my punishment comes.
3. trans. a. To cause to pass away by whining; to waste in whining.
1607. Shaks., Cor., V. vi. 98. At his Nurses teares He whin’d and roar’d away your Victory.
1656. Osborn, Adv. Son, iii. (ed. 4), 100. That Taylor, reported to have whin’d away himselfe for the love of Queen Elizabeth.
b. To utter in a whining tone.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 282. At the Reading the Epistle and Gospel, they change their Cope, Mantle, and Hood, and Whine them forth.
a. 1699. J. Beaumont, Psyche, I. ccxxiv. To sigh, and weep, and whine Out long complaints.
1781. Cowper, Conversat., 577. Canting and whining out all day the word.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxx. ‘If one is to go on living through continual scenes like this,’ she whined.
1880. Miss Braddon, Just as I am, iii. To-morrow morning he will be whining his recantation.
