Definition of "wail"

wail¹

/weɪl/

verb
third-person singular simple present wails, present participle wailing, simple past and past participle wailed
1. (intransitive) To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.
2. (intransitive) To weep, lament persistently or bitterly.
3. (intransitive) To make a noise like mourning or crying.
4. (transitive) To lament; to bewail; to grieve over.
  Quotations
  My lord, wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes
  1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act 3, scene 2]
5. (slang, music) To perform with great liveliness and force.
  Quotations
  At Boston's Roseland, as "the Count's band was wailing," he grabbed Mamie, an avid dancer. The "band was screaming when she kicked off her shoes and got barefooted
  1999, Lewis A. Erenberg, Swingin' the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture‎, page 111
  The band was really wailing as we quickly made our dance moves in a most provocative manner.
  2012, Robert Lewis Barrett, A Portrait of the First Born As a Child‎, page 377
  We had a nondenominational wedding, with a bunch of great Sufi musicians really wailing, and my wildly enthusiastic mother in attendance.
  2013, Joan Silber, Fools‎
noun
plural wails
1. A prolonged cry, usually high-pitched, especially as of grief or anguish.
2. Any similar sound as of lamentation; a howl.
3. A sound made by emergency vehicle sirens, contrasted with "yelp" which is higher-pitched and faster.

wail²

/weɪl/

verb
third-person singular simple present wails, present participle wailing, simple past and past participle wailed
1. (obsolete) Synonym of wale (“to choose; to select”)
  Quotations
  Wailed wine and metes
  c. 1500, Robert Henryson, The Testament of Cresseid

Definition of "wail"

wail1

verb

Quotations

Quotations

noun

wail2

verb

Quotations

wail¹

wail²