no obj.
1- (of a person or animal) make a series of low, feeble sounds expressive of fear, pain, or discontent(人, 动物)(因恐惧、痛苦或不满等而)抽泣, 抽搭, 呜咽:
a child in a bed nearby began to whimper.
躺在附近床上的小孩开始抽泣。
1.1
- with direct speech say something in a low, feeble voice expressive of such emotions抽抽搭搭地说, 哭诉:
'He's not dead, is he?' she whimpered.
“他没死, 对吧?”她哭着说道。
1
- a low, feeble sound expressive of such emotions抽泣声, 呜咽声:
she gave a little whimper of protest.
她发出小声的抗议。
1.1
a whimper
a feeble or anticlimatic tone or ending微弱的声音; 骤降的语调; 虎头蛇尾:their first appearance in the top flight ended with a whimper rather than a bang.
他们最初的登场体面又风光, 最后却以冷冷清清、无人喝彩而收场。
[ORIGIN: with allusion to T. S. Eliot's 'This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper'(Hollow Men, 1925).]
派生词
whimperer
nounwhimperingly
adverb词源
early 16th cent.: from dialect whimp 'to whimper', of imitative origin.