Also 6 whymper, wimper, Sc. quhymper. [Echoic. Cf. WHIMP.]
1. intr. To utter a feeble, whining, broken cry, as a child about to burst into tears; to make a low complaining sound.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, II. xii. 14. The ȝing childring, and frayit matrounis eik, Stude all on raw, with mony peteous screik … quhymperand woundir sair.
1530. Palsgr., 781/1. The poore boye whympereth a lytell, but he dare nat wepe for his lyfe.
1589. Nashe, Martin Marprelate, Wks. (Grosart), I. 184. He whimpered and put finger in the eye.
1644. Quarles, Sheph. Oracles, VII. (1646), 84. We … compose Strange rufull faces; whimper in the nose.
1727. Gay, Begg. Op., I. xiii. The Boy, thus, when his Sparrow’s flown … Whines, whimpers, sobs and cries.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, iii. Get you away now you have said your lesson. You needn’t whimper.
1912. Mrs. Allen Harker, Mr. Wycherly’s Wards, xiv. 202. Baby began to whimper.
b. fig. To complain pulingly; to ‘whine’: esp. for, after, † to something.
1549. Latimer, 3rd Serm. def. Edw. VI. (Arb.), 76. Was there euer yet preachers, but ther were gaynsaiars … yat whympered agaynste him?
1644. Quarles, Sheph. Oracles, VII. (1646), 76. Time was, Adelphus, that my wants would whine And whimper in poore rags as well as thine.
a. 1653. G. Daniel, Idyll., iii. 43. I … whimper to the Teat, though Strong enough To digest meat.
1815. W. H. Ireland, Scribbleomania, 190. The great Grecian youth, Who whimper’d for more worlds to conquer.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, viii. Proudfute … began to cry for assistance … and almost in the same breath to whimper for mercy.
1842. Peel, in Croker Papers, 27 July (1884), II. 383. Farmers … were whimpering over advertisements offering fresh meat [etc.].
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lxvii. She is still whimpering after that gaby of a husband—dead … these fifteen years.
1894. Jessopp, Rand. Roam., vi. 196. For ever whimpering for the days that are gone.
c. trans. To utter or express in a whimper.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 429. But poverty, with most who whimper forth Their long complaints, is self-inflicted woe.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xxviii. ‘You deal with me better than your word, noble knight,’ whimpered forth poor Wamba.
1820. Hogg, Tales, Allan Gordon (1837), I. 314. The generous animal whined and whimpered her joy.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, lxv. He still kept whimpering, ‘Only to think that such an artist as I am must perish!’
2. intr. Of an animal, esp. a dog: To utter a feeble querulous cry.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, xxxix. 108. He [sc. a hound] will streyne and lappyse, or whymper, or sometime call on plainely.
1641. W. Cartwright, Siege, I. iv. Whimpering at The Chamber door, like to the little Spaniel.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I. 335. The dog stopped; whimpered; looked him in the face.
1898. M. Hewlett, Forest Lovers, xxx. The dogs whimpered and tugged at the leash; they doubtless knew that there was blood in her.
3. Of running water or the wind: To make a continuous plaintive murmur. Also trans.
1795. H. Macneill, Will & Jean, I. xx. In a howm, wha’s bonnie burnie Whimperin row’d its crystal flood.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., II. 358. The little brook that whimpered by his school-house.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 106. The brook mourns drippling o’er its pebbly bed, And whimpers soothingly a calm serene.
1891. Kipling, Engl. Flag, i. Verse 1919, I. 290. Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro—And what should they know of England who only England know?
Hence Whimpered ppl. a. (sense 1 c).
1892. G. Meredith, Teaching of Nude, i. Poet. Wks. (1912), 410. A Satyr … fetching whimpered tunes For words.
