Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To cry weakly; whimper.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The cry of a child.
- To cry as a cat; mew.
- To cry as a child.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To cry, as a young child; to squall.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
cry weakly with a soft, high-pitched sound; towhimper ; towhine . - noun A soft cry or whimper; an act of mewling.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb cry weakly or softly
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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i remember the first time we heard the word mewl in some class at school, and found out what it meant. something struck a chord, something hummed inside me ... an audible click. it is an intransitive verb that means to cry weakly, or whimper. there was finally a word for what that noise in my head was ...
vampishone Diary Entry vampishone 2002
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In allusion to those remarkable feats of arms and -- legs -- Early's or Stuart's raids and Jackson's forced rapid marches, almost at horse-speed, when the men carried no rations, but ate corn-ears taken from the shucks and roasted them "at their pipes," the droll ruler would bring in that "mewl" again:
The Lincoln Story Book Henry Llewellyn Williams
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And finally you reveal the sham of yourself, the lip-service you pay to the idea that "[f] or a reviewer, I suppose all published work is fair game and, as writers, we should expect to take the good with the bad, review-wise" in your email, when you mewl pitiably that, "if I had received that email, I would have taken down the review."
How Not to be a Writer Hal Duncan 2009
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And finally you reveal the sham of yourself, the lip-service you pay to the idea that "[f] or a reviewer, I suppose all published work is fair game and, as writers, we should expect to take the good with the bad, review-wise" in your email, when you mewl pitiably that, "if I had received that email, I would have taken down the review."
Archive 2009-01-01 Hal Duncan 2009
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There was a satisfying and abrupt halt to the mewl of the flute.
Much Ado About Marriage Karen Hawkins 2010
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There was a satisfying and abrupt halt to the mewl of the flute.
Much Ado About Marriage Karen Hawkins 2010
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I'm sorry you feel that way, he seemed to mewl out, turning away from her slowly to look out the window.
Smoke and Mirrors 2010
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There was a satisfying and abrupt halt to the mewl of the flute.
Much Ado About Marriage Karen Hawkins 2010
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Only recently, one only has to look at them, to listen to them hiss and mewl about Haiti, about the poor and disenfranchised.
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I was mesmerized with his humanity, his tiny features and newborn mewl and with the fact that he was mine.
Oh, Boy. kittenpie 2008
yarb commented on the word mewl
Her manner was somewhat mincing and infantine, yet for all that it had been thirty good years at least since she had mewled and puked in her nurse's arms.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 4 ch. 5
September 18, 2008