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sigh - 6 dictionary results

sigh

  [sahy]
Use sigh in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to let out one's breath audibly, as from sorrow, weariness, or relief.
2. to yearn or long; pine.
3. to make a sound suggesting a sigh: sighing wind.
–verb (used with object)
4. to express or utter with a sigh.
5. to lament with sighing.
–noun
6. the act or sound of sighing.
Origin:
1250–1300; (v.) ME sighen, back formation from sihte sighed, past tense of ME siken, sichen, OE sīcan to sigh; (n.) ME, deriv. of the v.

Related forms:
sigher, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To sigh
sigh   (sī)   
v.   sighed, sigh·ing, sighs

v.   intr.
    1. To exhale audibly in a long deep breath, as in weariness or relief.
    2. To emit a similar sound: willows sighing in the wind.
  2. To feel longing or grief; yearn: sighing for their lost youth.
v.   tr.
  1. To express with or as if with an audible exhalation.
  2. Archaic To lament.
n.  The act or sound of sighing.

[Middle English sighen, probably back-formation from sighte, past tense of siken, to sigh, from Old English sīcan.]
sigh'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Sigh

Sigh\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sighed; p. pr. & vb. n. Sighing.] [OE. sighen, si?en; cf. also OE. siken, AS. s[=i]can, and OE. sighten, si?ten, sichten, AS. siccettan; all, perhaps, of imitative origin.]

1. To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, or the like.

2. Hence, to lament; to grieve.

He sighed deeply in his spirit. --Mark viii. 12.

3. To make a sound like sighing.

And the coming wind did roar more loud, And the sails did sigh like sedge. --Coleridge.

The winter winds are wearily sighing. --Tennyson.

Note: An extraordinary pronunciation of this word as s[=i]th is still heard in England and among the illiterate in the United States.

Sigh

Sigh\, v. t. 1. To exhale (the breath) in sighs.

Never man sighed truer breath. --Shak.

2. To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.

Ages to come, and men unborn, Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate. --Pior.

3. To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.

They . . . sighed forth proverbs. --Shak.

The gentle swain . . . sighs back her grief. --Hoole.

Sigh

Sigh\, n. [OE. sigh; cf. OE. sik. See Sigh, v. i.]

1. A deep and prolonged audible inspiration or respiration of air, as when fatigued or grieved; the act of sighing.

I could drive the boat with my sighs. --Shak.

2. Figuratively, a manifestation of grief; a lan?ent.

With their sighs the air Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite. --Milton.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : sigh
Spanish: suspirar,
German: seufzen,
Japanese: ため息をつく
More Translations »

sigh 
c.1300 (n. and v.), probably a back-formation from sighte, past tense of O.E. sican "to sigh," perhaps echoic of the sound of sighing.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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