Complain vs Girn - What's the difference?
complain | girn |
To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
* Milton
To make a formal accusation or bring a formal charge.
* Shakespeare
To creak or squeak, as a timber or wheel.
(label) To grimace; to snarl.
*1999 , (Jessica Stirling), The Wind from the Hills , St Martin's Press.
To whinge, moan, complain.
*2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, p. 107:
(label) To make elaborate unnatural and distorted faces as a form of amusement or in a girning competition.
A vocalization similar to a cat's purring.
*2002 , edited by Richard J. Davidson, Handbook of Affective Sciences , Oxford University Press, p. 569:
As verbs the difference between complain and girn
is that complain is to express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment while girn is (label) to grimace; to snarl.As a noun girn is
a vocalization similar to a cat's purring.complain
English
Verb
(en verb)- Joe was always complaining about the noise made by his neighbours.
- O loss of sight, of thee I most complain !
- They've complained about me to the police again.
- Now, Master Shallow, you'll complain of me to the king?
- the complaining bed-springs
Synonyms
* grumble * grouse * grump * bitch * beef * gripe * whine * kvetch * moan * whinge * See alsoExternal links
* *Anagrams
* English reporting verbsgirn
English
Alternative forms
* gurn * gurneVerb
(en verb)Noun
(en noun)- A different vocalization, a girn, simiular to a cat's purring, was observed in infants reunited with their mothers...