[f. as prec. + -ING2.] That complains; lamenting, murmuring, querulous.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIV. x. (1495), 472. A compleynyng voyce of doole and sorowe.
c. 1430. trans. T. à Kempis’ Consol., II. iii. Be ashamed þerfore, þou sluggussh & compleynyng seruaunt.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., V. iv. 5. The Nightingales complaining Notes.
1687. Dryden, Ode St. Cecilia, 33. The soft complaining Flute.
1734. Grub St. Jrnl., 2 May, 4/1. On the complaining part of Ovid’s Epistles.
1816. Bryant, Thanatopsis, 41. The complaining brooks That make the meadows green.
Hence Complainingly adv.; Complainingness.
1627. Rawley, Bacon’s Silva, Wks. 1677, A iv b. I have heard his Lordship speak complainingly.
1816. Byron, Siege Cor., xxxiii. The jackal’s troop … Bay’d from afar complainingly.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., V. xxxix. Kate lifting up her eyebrows with a playful complainingness.
