weep

Meanings

Verb

• To cry; shed tears.
• To lament; to complain.
• To produce secretions.
• To flow in drops; to run in drops.
• To hang the branches, as if in sorrow; to be pendent; to droop; said of a plant or its branches.
• To weep over; to bewail.

Noun

• A session of crying.
• A lapwing; wipe, especially, a northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).

Origin

• From Middle English wepen, from Old English wēpan ("to weep, complain, bewail, mourn over, deplore"), from Proto-West Germanic *wōpijan, from Proto-Germanic *wōpijaną ("to weep"), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂b- ("to call, cry, complain").
• Cognate with Scots wepe, weip, Saterland Frisian wapia ("to cry, complain"), Icelandic æpa ("to yell, shout").
• Imitative of its cry.