groan

[[t]gro͟ʊn[/t]]

groans, groaning, groaned

1) VERB If you groan, you make a long, low sound because you are in pain, or because you are upset or unhappy about something.

[V with n] Slowly, he opened his eyes. As he did so, he began to groan with pain...

They glanced at the man on the floor, who began to groan...

[V-ing] She was making small groaning noises.

Syn:

moan

N-COUNT

Groan is also a noun.

She heard him let out a pitiful, muffled groan... As his ball flew wide, there was a collective groan from the stands.

2) VERB If you groan something, you say it in a low, unhappy voice.

[V with quote] `My leg - I think it's broken,' Eric groaned.

3) VERB If you groan about something, you complain about it.

[V about n] His parents were beginning to groan about the price of college tuition. [Also V, V that]

N-COUNT

Groan is also a noun.

Listen sympathetically to your child's moans and groans about what she can't do.

4) VERB If wood or something made of wood groans, it makes a loud sound when it moves.

The timbers groan and creak and the floorboards shift.

5) VERB (emphasis) If you say that something such as a table groans under the weight of food, you are emphasizing that there is a lot of food on it.

[V under/with n] The bar counter groans under the weight of huge plates of the freshest fish.

[V-ing] ...a table groaning with food.

6) VERB: usu cont (disapproval) If you say that someone or something is groaning under the weight of something, you think there is too much of that thing.

[V under n] Consumers were groaning under the weight of high interest rates...

[V under n] Bookshelves groan under the burden of books on threats to the environment.