Whine \Whine\, v. t. To utter or express plaintively, or in a mean, unmanly way; as, to whine out an excuse.
Whine \Whine\, n. A plaintive tone; the nasal, childish tone of mean complaint; mean or affected complaint.
Whine \Whine\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Whined}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Whining}.] [OE. whinen, AS. hw[=i]nan to make a whistling, whizzing sound; akin to Icel. hv[=i]na, Sw. hvina, Dan. hvine, and probably to G. wiehern to neigh, OHG. wih[=o]n, hweij[=o]n; perhaps of imitative origin. Cf. {Whinny}, v. i.] To utter a plaintive cry, as some animals; to moan with a childish noise; to complain, or to tell of sorrow, distress, or the like, in a plaintive, nasal tone; hence, to complain or to beg in a mean, unmanly way; to moan basely. ``Whining plovers.'' --Spenser.
The hounds were . . . staying their coming, but with a whining accent, craving liberty. --Sir P. Sidney.
Dost thou come here to whine? --Shak.
Atop the rooster-comb ridge, a dozen Karen soldiers crouch behind rocks overlooking a saddle where the Burmese have dug in. Rifle bullets whine over the outpost where the soldiers have already spent 10 difficult days.
And don't whine about short-term investors or a lack of risk capital.
Bouncing back with a burst of unbridled enthusiasm, Mona released an adrenaline-charged whine: "Oh my God, I'm alive.
The drone of helicopter rotors was mixed with the whine of sirens, the sound of shattering glass and the roar of the flames a dozen stories overhead.
There's no longer a need to whine about the cork that accidentally falls into the wine bottle.
"It is," he said, with a thin smile, "Sweden's whine district." T-shirts or teddy bears inscribed with the message of a political or religious group have the same constitutional protection as books, a federal appeals court ruled.
Kevin Zaborney urged people to set Monday aside for a "whine and cheese party" or go to a department store and whine around the lines of people returning Christmas gifts.
Kevin Zaborney urged people to set Monday aside for a "whine and cheese party" or go to a department store and whine around the lines of people returning Christmas gifts.
The whine and sonic booms from low-flying jets, he says, make ranch life intolerable.
You heard the whine of richochets, and you perservered.
Foreign investors and corporations, their hope for stability fading as the cases of mismanaged and stalled joint ventures multiply, cut back their representative offices and whine.
Although not good enough, the process is significant. For the past two weeks Mr Smith has managed to excoriate Mr John Major so effectively that on Tuesday the prime minister took up the traditional whine of the contemporary politician in trouble.
"There was a girl who would whine about everything and anything," he said. "There are people who are whiners and she was a whiner.
The plane dissolves into a dove as strains from Brahms and Beethoven replace the whine of the jet's engine.
She said most people would probably clog up 911 emergency phone lines if they heard the sirens' slow whine.
"In New Hampshire he began to speak rather than whine.