Pl. cries. Forms: 3–5 cri, 3– cry. Also 4–7 crie, crye, (4–5 krie, krye); pl. 4–7 cryes. [a. F. cri = Pr. Cat. crit, Sp. grito, It. grido, f. stem of crier (cridar, gridare) to CRY.]
I. 1. The loud and chiefly inarticulate utterance of emotion; esp. of grief, pain or terror.
c. 1275. Lay., 11991. Nas neuere no man … þat i-horde þane cri [c. 1205 þesne weop] hou hii gradde to þan halwes, þat his heorte ne mihte beo sori for þane deolfulle cri.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 139. The cry of þe folk þat me slow, þe oþere broȝte in drede.
a. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 478. By þat cry men knaw þan Whether it [the infant] be man or weman.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 115. With such weping and with such cry Forth … he goth.
c. 1440. Ipomydon, 1951. The lady herde hym make suche crye.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. iii. 23. With hollow houling, and lamenting cry.
1604. Shaks., Oth., V. i. 38 (Qo.). ’Tis some mischance; the cry is very direful.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, III. xxx. Their wail and their cry.
b. (with a and pl.). A shout or exclamation of pain, grief, terror, etc.; a scream, shriek, wail.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4393 (Cott.). Sco [Potiphar’s wife] gaue a cri þat all moght here.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), iv. 13. Scho turned agayne with a hidous crie.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lxvii. 231. He herde the cryes & wepynges that she made.
1605. Shaks., Lear, II. iv. 43. He rais’d the house with loud and coward cries.
1773. Mrs. Griffith, trans. Viand’s Shipwreck, 25. A Dutchman … who had been … the loudest in his plaints and cries.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, lxxi. He dropped into his chair again, and … uttered a cry never to be forgotten.
c. 1850. Arab. Nts., 636. Those mournful cries, which women usually utter on the death of their husbands.
c. An exclamation expressive of any emotion.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, vii. 11. The insensate mob Uttered a cry of triumph.
1891. F. Barrett, Sin of Olga Z., III. xlvii. 193. He drew her to him with a cry of joy.
d. in Pathol. (See quot. 1882.)
1843. Sir T. Watson, Lect. Physic, I. 630. The cry [in epilepsy] … is sometimes a husky groan, but generally a piercing and terrifying scream.
1882. Syd. Soc. Lex., Epileptic cry, a peculiar discordant cry or yell occasionally uttered just before the respiration is arrested in an epileptic fit. Hydrocephalic cry, a sharp, plaintive cry uttered by a child suffering from hydrocephalus.
† 2. Shouting, calling in a voice loud and uttered with effort. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 16304 (Cott.). Foluand him wit cri.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 5382. Þe Sarazynz after him prikede … With noyse & eke with crye.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 102. Crye, clamor, vociferacio.
b. A shout, a loud and excited utterance.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., I. 294. Þis crie is warnynge of aungels.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 63. Altogether with one crie called him on every side Traytor.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., lviii. 228. Yet could they … neither with their cries, nor menaces, stop them all.
1839. T. Beale, Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale, 314. Canoes filled with natives…, uttering loud cries, and appearing much excited.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 771. The Ayes raised so loud a cry that it was believed that they were the majority.
c. The loud and excited utterance of words; the words as shouted.
1382. Wyclif, Matt. xxv. 6. Sothely at myd niȝt a cry was maad, Loo! the spouse cummeth.
1548. Hall, Chron., 118 b. The people … cried: live king Henry, live king Henry. After whiche crie passed, the noble men … did to hym homage.
1605. Shaks., Macb., V. v. 2. The cry is still they come.
1783. Gentl. Mag., LIII. II. 822. A cry of Hear him! Hear him!
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. V. vi. There has been a cry every where; To the Bastille!
1839. T. Beale, Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale, 169. Hearing the loud cry of ‘a man overboard.’
d. The united shouting with which seamen, etc., accompany their combined exertions.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 102. Crye of schypmen, that ys clepyd haue howe (P. halowe).
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine, Hola-ho, a cry which answers to yoe-hoe.
1850. W. B. Clarke, Wreck of ‘Favorite,’ 21. By the signal and well-known cry—without which, apparently, no British tar … can haul a rope…—they united their strength.
3. An importunate call, a prayer, entreaty; an appeal for mercy, justice, etc.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4715 (Cott.). Bi for þe king þai com wit cri, And said, lauerd, þou ha merci.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter, ci. 2. Laverd, here þe bede of me, And mi krie mote come to þe.
1382. Wyclif, Prov. xxi. 13. Who stoppeth his ere at the cri of the pore.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxi. § 4. The unresistible cries of suppliants calling upon you for mercy.
1649. Blithe, Eng. Improv. Impr. (1652), 181. It is my constant cry to my own Husbandmen to take heed of Plough balking.
1704. Pope, Windsor For., 85. Succeeding Monarchs heard the subjects cries.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 147. The cry of the whole people was for a free Parliament.
† 4. A formal authoritative summons; a ‘call.’
a. 1300. Havelok, 270. And forto hauen alle at his cri, At his wille, at his merci.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 279. Knyghtes, lordes of tounes, and alle com to his crie.
c. 1330. Amis & Amil., 207. Than hadde the douke … A douhti knight, at crie.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 179/4. Thenne assemblyd alle the cyte of Luques at the crye of the fader.
† 5. An announcement made in public in a loud voice; a proclamation. Obs. in general sense.
[1292. Britton, I. xxiii. 13. Qi qe face encountre la crye, qe il eyt la prisoun par un an et un jour.]
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 906. Þan commaundede þey, and made a cry … On satyrday shulde men noun ryngge.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2249. Wich a cri has he cried … þurch hest of þemperour.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 981. He makes a crie þat alle þe curte … Suld put þaim in to presens.
a. 1502. in Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 90. Ony man that hangith not out a lanterne … acordyng to the Mayrs crye.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, liii. 181. Kyng yuoryn made a crye thorow all the cyte that euery man sholde be armed.
1837. Sir F. Palgrave, Merch. & Friar, iv. (1844), 139. A grave … personage read … the ‘crye,’ which … announced the appointed meeting of the great Council of the realm.
† b. pl. The proclamation of banns of marriage; the ‘askings.’ Obs.
c. 1315. Shoreham, 71. Me schal maky the cryes At cherche oppe holy dayȝes thre.
c. The proclamation of wares to be sold in the streets; the words in which wares are cried, as London cries.
1642. Howell, For. Trav. (Arb.), 25. Let his Chamber be street ward to take in the common cry and Language, and [to] see how the Town is serv’d.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), III. 239. A book of fencing, the cries of London, and the procession at the coronation of William and Mary were designed by him.
1834. Ht. Martineau, Farrers, i. 3. The six o’clock cries are not all over.
1857. E. FitzGerald, Lett. (1889), I. 252. Some old Street cry, no doubt.
d. Hue and cry: see HUE.
† 6. The mingled noise of people shouting; clamor, tumultuous noise, outcry. Obs.
c. 1275. Lay., 27034. Þane cry hii ofhorde of þan Romleode.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 244. Þer was contek & crie. Ibid., 245. Men said þe wrath & cri com þorgh þe lord Tiptofte.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 5915. Myche clamour & crye was kyde in þe ost.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 103. Crye, or grete noyse a-mong the peple, tumultus.
7. Rumor, public report.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 340. A crye and noyes went through the Citie, how the king and the Maior were lyke to be slayne.
1604. Shaks., Oth., IV. i. 127. Why, the cry goes, that you marry her.
1608. Yorksh. Trag., I. ix. Knight.… Murder’d his children? 1st Gent. So the cry goes.
1668. Temple, Lett. to Sir J. Temple, Wks. 1731, II. 122. For ought I can judge by the Cry of the Court, he wants it [money] more than I do.
1864. E. Capern, Devon Provinc., All the Cry, the report, something generally talked of.
b. The public voice loudly uttered in approval, denunciation, etc.; the vox populi.
1628. Earle, Microcosm., Vulgar-spirited Man (Arb.), 70. One that followes meerely the common crye, and makes it louder by one.
1691–8. Norris, Pract. Disc., 85. Vice will always have the Cry of her side.
1692. Locke, Toleration, III. ix. He that troubles not his Head at all about Religion, what other can so well suit him as the National: with which the Cry and Preferments go.
1768. W. Gilpin, Ess. Prints, 116. The cry, in his day, ran wholly in favour of antiquity.
a. 1842. Arnold, Later Rom. Commw. (1846), I. iv. 120. The popular cry was loud against him.
8. A form of words in which popular opinion on any matter finds general utterance; an opinion very generally expressed.
1688. S. Penton, Guardians Instr., 68. The common Cry is, that it is time enough to learn their Books when they come to be seven or eight years old.
1713. Steele, Englishman, No. 50. 323. Then the Cry would be, Images were put up for the common and ignorant People to worship.
1786. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), II. 9. The general cry that our commerce was in distress.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 387. A cry was … raised that the penny post was a Popish contrivance.
9. Something shouted to encourage and rally a party; a watchword; a war-cry, a battle-cry; a rallying cry. lit. and fig.
1548. Hall, Chron., 138 b. The lord Talbot made a crye, as though he would assaile the gate.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., II. i. 79. The Cry of Talbot serues me for a Sword.
1744. Berkeley, Siris, § 368. Truth is the cry of all, but the game of a few.
1850. Tait’s Mag., XVII. 398/2. Their names are no longer ‘a cry’ and a test.
1883. Manch. Exam., 23 Nov., 5/1. A revived Islamism was one of the cries by which Arabi sought to inspire his countrymen.
b. esp. A political or electioneering watchword; a legislative proposal or scheme designed as a rallying cry for the members of a party in a contest.
1779. Burke, Corr. (1844), II. 264. It would be well if gentlemen, before they joined in a cry against any establishment, had well considered for what purpose that cry is raised.
1837. Brewster, Newton (1855), II. xix. 218. The Tory election cry … was ‘the Church in danger.’
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, II. i. ‘It is a very good cry though, if there be no other’ said Tadpole.
1884. Gladstone, in Standard, 29 Feb., 2/7. Redistribution is their favourite cry.
10. A fit of weeping: a good cry, an energetic fit of weeping that relieves the feelings (colloq.).
1852. J. B. Owen, in Visct. Ingestre, Meliora, I. 138. She was not sure but a good cry would do herself good, too.
1890. Eng. Illust. Mag., Christmas No. 162. Mrs. Macdonald had her cry out.
11. The vocal utterance of animals; esp. the particular call of any animal.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 5410. Sory foules … Cry hy hadden als a pecok.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 213. They [Bats] sqweake and call one the other, in most offensiue cryes.
1694. Acc. Sev. Late Voy., II. (1711), 90. His Cry is like the Cry of some Ravens that I have … heard.
1771. Mrs. Griffith, trans. Viaud’s Shipwreck, 151. The different species of animals were to be distinguished by their cries.
1841. G. P. R. James, Brigand, iii. The distant cry of a wolf.
1887. C. C. Abbott, Waste-Land Wand., vi. 170. The sora has a cry that is peculiar in its marked resemblance to the rattle of our green frog.
12. The yelping of hounds in the chase.
1535. R. Layton, in Lett. Supp. Monast. (Camden Soc., 1843), 71. To kepe the dere within the woode, therby to have the better cry with his howndes.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XVIII. xiii. Sweeter music than the finest cry of dogs in England.
18[?]. Whittier, King Volmer & Elsie, iv. With cry of hounds and blare of hunter’s horn.
b. Hence various phrases: e.g., to give cry, to open upon the cry; full cry, full pursuit; also fig.
1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc., 6. Will you … run vpon a Christen body, with full cry and open mouth?
1649. Fuller, Just Man’s Funeral, 13. Hear the whole kennel of Atheists come in with a full crie.
1684. R. H., Sch. Recreat., 16. Being in full Cry and main Chase, comfort and cheer them with Horn and Voice.
1710. Palmer, Proverbs, 53. He gives out this cue to his admirers, who are sure to open upon the cry ’till they are hoarse again.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Jrnls., II. 32. All offering their merchandise at full cry.
1891. Rev. of Reviews, July, 25. The journalists gave cry after the Prince, like a pack of hounds when they strike the trail of a fox.
13. transf. A pack of hounds.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., IV. i. 131. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kinde … A cry more tuneable Was neuer … cheer’d with horne.
1601. Yarington, Two Lament. Trag., III. ii. in Bullen, O. Pl., IV. 53. The little flocked hound … surer of his sent, Then any one in all the crie besides.
1611. Cotgr., Meute, a kennell, or crie, of hounds.
1697. G. Dampier, in Phil. Trans., XX. 51. A Gentleman’s Cry of Dogs.
1890. Daily News, 3 Nov., 5/3. With four packs of staghounds, sixteen of foxhounds, and twenty-five of harriers, besides not a few of those small ‘cries’ of beagles which afford such excellent sport in their way, Ireland still holds her own as a grand hunting country.
† b. contemptuously. A ‘pack’ (of people).
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. ii. 289. Get me a Fellowship in a crie of Players.
a. 1658. Cleveland, London Lady, 35. A small Cry of Tenants.
14. The creaking, crackling noise emitted by some metals, esp. tin, when bent.
1882. Nature, XXV. 374. The cry of tin is due to crystalline structure.
15. Combined with an adv., as cry-out, the act of crying out, exclamation, outcry.
1814. Jane Austen, Mansf. Park (1866). Ibid. (1816), Emma, I. viii. A general cry-out upon her extreme good luck.
1852. J. Nutt, in Visct. Ingestre, Meliora, I. 199. The constant cry-out was that the filth came from their neighbours.
II. Phrases.
16. Great (or much) cry and little wool: the proverbial outcome of shearing hogs; hence, much noise or fuss with small results, much ado about nothing.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 28. As one said at the shearing of hogs, great cry and litle wool, much adoe, and smal help.
1625. Hart, Anat. Ur., II. x. 119. Parturient montes, etc.… Great cry and little wooll.
1684. T. Goddard, Plato’s Demon, 301. When there is a great cry, there is not always the more wooll.
Mod. Sc. Muckle cry an’ little woo’, As the deil said whan he shore the soo.
† 17. Out of (or without) all cry: a. beyond all cavil or dispute; to a certainty; certain; b. (also, out of cry) beyond measure; to excess; desperately.
(Cf. out of all ho, out of all whooping, and see HO sb.)
1563. Golding, Cæsar (1565), 77. As if the vyctory had bene theyr own out of al cry.
1569. Turberv., Poems. In their countrey downe is rife, and feathers out of cry.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut. xxvii. 163. The proofes were so notable as the matter ought to be out of all crie.
1589. Nashe, Martins Months minde, 36. The griefe whereof vext him out of all crie.
1594. Taming of Shrew, C iv b. For Ile so cram me downe the tarts … out of all crie.
1598. R. Bernard, trans. Terence (1607), 54. Misere hanc amat, He loues her out a crie.
1598. Chapman, Blind Beggar, Plays (1889), 4/2. Oh! Master, tis … without all cry.
1690. W. Walker, Idiom. Anglo-Lat., 125. You commend them out of all cry.
1875. Lowell, Spenser, Wks. (1890), IV. 347. He sometimes ‘hunted the letter,’ as it was called, out of all cry.
18. Within cry of: within calling distance. A far cry: a long way, a very long distance.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., IX. (1682), 396. Villages and Houses … each one was within cry of another.
1819. Scott, Leg. Montrose, xii. One of the Campbells replied, ‘It is a far cry to Lochow’; a proverbial expression of the tribe, meaning that their ancient hereditary domains lay beyond the reach of an invading enemy.
1850. Tait’s Mag., XVII. 75/1. In those days, it was a ‘far cry’ from Orkney to Holyrood; nevertheless the ‘cry’ at length penetrated the royal ear.
1885. Athenæum, 18 April, 498/3. It is a far cry from the ascidian to bookbinding and blue china, yet it is a cry that can be achieved by Mr. Lang.
