plaint

(redirected from plaints)
Also found in: Thesaurus, Legal, Encyclopedia.
Related to plaints: plaits

plaint

 (plānt)
n.
1. A complaint.
2. An utterance of grief or sorrow; a lamentation.

[Middle English, from Old French plainte, from Latin plānctus, lament, from past participle of plangere, to strike one's breast, lament; see plāk- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

plaint

(pleɪnt)
n
1. (Poetry) archaic a complaint or lamentation
2. (Law) law a statement in writing of grounds of complaint made to a court of law and asking for redress of the grievance
[C13: from Old French plainte, from Latin planctus lamentation, from plangere to beat]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

plaint

(pleɪnt)

n.
1. a complaint.
2. a lament; lamentation.
[1175–1225; Middle English < Middle French < Latin planctus a striking or beating (the breast) in grief =plang(ere) to beat, strike, mourn for + -tus suffix of v. action]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.plaint - (United Kingdom) a written statement of the grounds of complaint made to court of law asking for the grievance to be redressed
allegation - (law) a formal accusation against somebody (often in a court of law); "an allegation of malpractice"
Britain, Great Britain, U.K., UK, United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; `Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom
2.plaint - a cry of sorrow and griefplaint - a cry of sorrow and grief; "their pitiful laments could be heard throughout the ward"
complaint - (formerly) a loud cry (or repeated cries) of pain or rage or sorrow
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

plaint

n (liter)
(= complaint)Wehklage f (geh)
(= cry)Gejammer nt; the moans and plaints of their childrendas Gequäke und Gejammer ihrer Kinder
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in classic literature ?
Bring in brother John, and let him hear the plaints which have been urged against him."
"It was so sudden and so dreadful, Arthur," poor Miss Lydia began, pouring out her little plaints, and Arthur sat down to listen with impatient patience.
The commons stand in terror of thy frown, And dare not utter aught that might offend, But I can overhear their muttered plaints, Know how the people mourn this maiden doomed For noblest deeds to die the worst of deaths.
He has not been suffi- ciently rubbed and curried, or he has not been prop- erly fed; his food was too wet or too dry; he got it too soon or too late; he was too hot or too cold; he had too much hay, and not enough of grain; or he had too much grain, and not enough of hay; instead of old Barney's attending to the horse, he had very improperly left it to his son." To all these com- plaints, no matter how unjust, the slave must an- swer never a word.
His natural inclination to blame, hitherto kept entirely in abeyance toward his father by the predisposition to think him always right, simply on the ground that he was Tom Tulliver's father, was turned into this new channel by his mother's plaints; and with his indignation against Wakem there began to mingle some indignation of another sort.
She remembered, dimly, the blight of hard times in the past, and the plaints of fathers and mothers in those days returned to her with a new significance.
Then on the bank of Jordan, by a creek, Where winds with reeds and osiers whispering play, Plain fishermen (no greater men them call), Close in a cottage low together got, Their unexpected loss and plaints outbreathed:-- "Alas, from what high hope to what relapse Unlooked for are we fallen!
No echoes of that discord shall be heard Where Father Tagus rolls, or on the banks Of olive-bordered Betis; to the rocks Or in deep caverns shall my plaint be told, And by a lifeless tongue in living words; Or in dark valleys or on lonely shores, Where neither foot of man nor sunbeam falls; Or in among the poison-breathing swarms Of monsters nourished by the sluggish Nile.
It was not interrupted when a squirrel dropped a nut on us from the top of a tall hickory; and the plaint of a meadow-lark prolonged itself with unbroken sweetness from one world to the other.
About me is murmur and hum, and I know it for the gnat- swarm of the living, piping for a little space its thin plaint of troubled air.
For three days this blinding headache lasted, and he suffered as wild animals suffer, as it seemed the way on ship to suffer, without plaint, without sympathy, utterly alone.
Hee, after EVE seduc't, unminded slunk Into the Wood fast by, and changing shape To observe the sequel, saw his guileful act By EVE, though all unweeting, seconded Upon her Husband, saw thir shame that sought Vain covertures; but when he saw descend The Son of God to judge them, terrifi'd Hee fled, not hoping to escape, but shun The present, fearing guiltie what his wrauth Might suddenly inflict; that past, return'd By Night, and listning where the hapless Paire Sate in thir sad discourse, and various plaint, Thence gatherd his own doom, which understood Not instant, but of future time.