wail

• enPR: wāl, IPA^(key): /weɪl/, [weɪɫ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophone: wale
• Homophone: whale (wine–whine merger)

c. 1300, Middle English weilen, waylen (“to sob, cry, wail”),^[1] from Old Norse væla (“to wail”),^[2] from væ, vei (“woe”),^[3] from Proto-Germanic *wai (whence also Old English wā (“woe”) (English woe)), from Proto-Indo-European *wáy.

The verb is first attested in the intransitive sense; the transitive sense developed in mid-14^th c.. The noun came from the verb.

wail (third-person singular simple present wails, present participle wailing, simple past and past participle wailed)

1. (intransitive) To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.

   Synonyms: groan, moan

2. (intransitive) To weep, lament persistently or bitterly.

   Synonyms: burst into tears; see also Thesaurus:weep

3. (intransitive) To make a noise like mourning or crying.

   Synonyms: keen, ululate

   The wind wailed and the rain streamed down.

4. (transitive) To lament; to bewail; to grieve over.

   Synonyms: lament, mourn; see also Thesaurus:lament

   to wail one's death

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act 3, scene 2]:

     My lord, wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes

5. (slang, music) To perform with great liveliness and force.
   • 1966, Bruce Brown, director, The Endless Summer:

     Another outstanding surfer from Hawaii - Fred Hemmings. Fred only stands up on alternate Wednesdays, but when he does, he really wails.

   • 1999, Lewis A. Erenberg, Swingin' the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture‎^[2], page 111:

     At Boston's Roseland, as "the Count's band was wailing," he grabbed Mamie, an avid dancer. The "band was screaming when she kicked off her shoes and got barefooted

   • 2012, Robert Lewis Barrett, A Portrait of the First Born As a Child‎^[3], page 377:

     The band was really wailing as we quickly made our dance moves in a most provocative manner.

   • 2013, Joan Silber, Fools‎^[4], →ISBN:

     We had a nondenominational wedding, with a bunch of great Sufi musicians really wailing, and my wildly enthusiastic mother in attendance.

• bewail
• wailer
• wail on
• wailingly

wail (plural wails)

1. A prolonged cry, usually high-pitched, especially as of grief or anguish. [from 15^th c.]

   She let out a loud, doleful wail.

2. Any similar sound as of lamentation; a howl.

   The wail of snow-dark winter winds.

   A bird's wail in the night.

3. A sound made by emergency vehicle sirens, contrasted with "yelp" which is higher-pitched and faster.

From Old Norse val (“choice”). Compare Icelandic velja (“to choose”). More at wale.

wail (third-person singular simple present wails, present participle wailing, simple past and past participle wailed)

1. (obsolete) Synonym of wale (“to choose; to select”).
   • c. 1500, Robert Henryson, The Testament of Cresseid:

     Wailed wine and metes

• “wail”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “wail”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “wail”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• wali, wila, wāli

wail

1. water

• James T. Collins, The Historical Relationships of the Languages of Central Maluku, Indonesia (1983), page 70

Blend of wala (“not”) +‎ ilhi (“known, recognized”)

• Hyphenation: wa‧il
• IPA^(key): /waˈʔil/ [wɐˈʔil̪]
• Rhymes: -il

wail (Badlit spelling ᜏᜁᜎ᜔)

1. an insignificant person
2. an unknown person or thing
3. an unknown celebrity or politician