Forms: 4 compleignte, 4–5 -pleynt(e, 4–6 -pleinte, 5 -plent, 5–6 -playnt(e, 6 plant, 5– complaint. [ME. a. F. complainte = Pr. complancha, -plainta, OCat. complancta, -planta, It. compianta, late L. type complancta, sb. from complanctus pa. pple., corresp. etymologically to those in -ata, -ada, -ée.]
1. The action of complaining; the utterance of grief, lamentation, grieving.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, II. 924. For whom was maked moch compleynt.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1516. With pyte and complaint pyne for to here.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccxxvi. (heading), 299. The pytefull complaynt that therle Mountfort made for his dethe.
1535. Coverdale, Esther (Apoc.) xiii. 17. Turne oure complaynte and sorow in to ioye.
1611. Bible, Ps. cxlii. 2. I powred out my complaint before him: I shewed before him my trouble.
1727. Pope, Thoughts Var. Subj., in Swift’s Wks. (1755), III. 404. Complaint is the largest tribute heaven receives, and the sincerest part of our devotion.
[1752. Johnson, Rambler, No. 200, ¶ 1. They have immediate recourse to lamentation and complaint.]
2. An expression of grief, a lamentation, a plaint.
1593. Drayton, Eclogues, x. 28. For whose complaints, teares never could suffice.
1699. Bentley, Phal., Pref. 43. The Complaints which My Torments express from me.
b. spec. A plaintive poem, a plaint. (Frequent as a title, but in later times chiefly descriptive.)
c. 1368. Chaucer (title), Compleynte of Pité. Ibid. (c. 1386), Frankl. T., 220. Of swich matere made he manye layes Songes compleintes roundels virelayes.
1529. Lyndesay (title), Heir beginnis the Complaynt of Schir Dauid Lindesay. Ibid. (1536), The Complaint and publict Confessioun of the Kingis auld Hound callit Bagsche.
1599. Thynne, Animadv. (1865), 30. Blanche his wyfe … dyed longe after that compleinte.
1663. Cowley (title), The Complaint.
1779–81. Johnson, L. P., Cowley, Wks. II. 18. An Ode called ‘the Complaint’ … seems to have excited more contempt than pity.
3. Outcry against or because of injury; representation of wrong suffered; utterance of grievance.
1374. Chaucer, Anel. & Arc. (title), The compleynte of Anelida … upon Arcyte … for his Doublenesse.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 111. Tho was murmur, tho was disdeine, Tho was compleinte on every side.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxix. § 14. You … make great complaint of the wonderful cruelty we shew towards you.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 131. Whose failing … I should not expose to blame By my complaint.
1738–9. in Swift’s Lett. (1768), IV. 223. For some little time past, I have not had the same cause of complaint.
1789. Bentham, Princ. Legisl., xix. § 15. It is a standing topic of complaint, that a man knows too little of himself.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), I. i. 35. Complaint was loud enough when complaint was just, under the Somerset protectorate.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, I. I. vi. He did not wish to assume an attitude of complaint in the presence of a stranger.
4. (with a and pl.) An utterance or statement of grievance or injustice suffered.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 363. To here … hir compleyntes and peticiouns.
1477. Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 99 a. To be in a certayn place, for to here the complayntes of euery body.
1509. Fisher, Fun. Serm. C’tess Richmond, Wks. 299. The holy faders … make these complayntes … agaynst almyghty god.
1690. J. Harrington, Def. Rights Univ. Oxford, Pref. Once at least in every age the Citizens have renewed their complaints against us.
1861. Dickens, Lett. (1880), II. 155. Yours is the first complaint of the kind I have ever received.
b. spec. A statement of injury or grievance laid before a court or judicial authority (esp. and properly a Court of Equity) for purposes of prosecution or of redress; a formal accusation or charge.
c. U.S. The plaintiff’s case in a civil action.
Bill of complaint: the written statement of the plaintiff’s case.
1413. Lydg., Pilgr. Sowle, I. viii. (1859), 6. In euery ryghtwys court skyle is that the actour be admytted to maken his compleynt.
1529. Act 21 Hen. VIII., c. 16 § 11. Our … Subjects … exhibited unto us a lamentable Bill of Complaint.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 161. The Marchauntes of London … exhibited a Byll of complaint agaynst the Countesse of Flaundyrs, for that shee had taken from them certayne goodes.
1599. Thynne, Animadv. (1865), 13. I fynde … that kinge Edwarde the firste had herde the compleinte of Johne Chaucer of London.
1611. Bible, Acts xxv. 7. The Iewes … stood round about, and laide many and grieuous complaints against Paul.
1622. Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 227. Who … did preferre their Bills of complaint in Chauncerie.
1772. Hist. Rochester, 227. To exhibit a bill of complaint or information against the executors.
1872. O. Shipley, Gloss. Eccl. Terms, Article, 45. A complaint exhibited in the ecclesiastical courts by way of libel.
5. The matter, subject, or ground of complaint.
[a. 1699. Stillingfl., Serm., I. x. What complaint hath been more frequent among men almost in all Ages, than that peace and prosperity hath been the portion of the wicked?]
1731. Swift, Consid. on Two Bills, Misc. 1742, VIII. 161. The Poverty of great Numbers among the Clergy in England, hath been the continual Complaint of all Men who wish well to the Church.
1751. Butler, Wks. (1874), II. 323. The general decay of religion … has been for some time the complaint of all serious persons.
6. spec. A bodily ailment, indisposition, disorder (esp. of chronic nature).
1705. Arbuthnot, Coins (J.). One, in a complaint of his bowels, was let blood ’till he … was perfectly cured.
1733. Swift’s Lett. (1766), II. 187. Your complaint and mine are not very different … Mine is a sort of a dizziness.
1789. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 267. A medicine very much in esteem for complaints of the throat.
1809. Med. Jrnl., XXI. 47. This … was mistaken for a bowel complaint.
1844. Stanley, Life Arnold, I. 1. Susannah, who, after a lingering complaint in the spine, died at Laleham, in 1832.
