Sighs
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Related to Sighs: Bridge of Sighs
sigh
(sī)v. sighed, sigh·ing, sighs
v.intr.
1.
a. To exhale audibly in a long deep breath, as in weariness or relief.
b. To emit a similar sound: willows sighing in the wind.
2. To feel longing or grief; yearn: sighing for their lost youth.
v.tr.
1. To express with or as if with an audible exhalation.
2. Archaic To lament.
n.
The act or sound of sighing.
[Middle English sighen, probably back-formation from sighte, past tense of siken, to sigh, from Old English sīcan.]
sigh′er n.
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.
Sighs
See Also: GROANS AND WHISPERS
- A collective sigh, like an escaping jet of steam —Robert Traver
- Gave a deep sigh, like pain was a habit —Cornell Woolrich
- Releasing a muffled sigh like a baby animal with a full belly —Kenzaburo Oë
- Sighed, a rustling sound like wandering autumn leaves —Derek Lambert
- Sighed like a long-suffering teacher —Ramsey Campbell
- Sighed like a pair of bellows —William McIlvanney
- Sighed like a poet in love —Beryl Markham
- Sighed once with relief … like a low note on a bagpipe —Sue Grafton
- Sighed with pain, as if a knife had twisted deep inside —Louise Erdrich
- Sighing, like a bagpipe’s dying breath —Patrick White
- Sighing like a punctured tire —Guy Bolton
- Sighing like the night wind and sobbing like the rain —Stephen Foster
This is a line from the song, “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair,” which begins with yet another simile: “I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair, borne like a vapor on the summer air.”
- Sigh like some sweet plaintive melody —William Motherwell
- A sigh of relief escaped his lips like a long-needed crap —John Lennon
- Sighs as if a mountain lay on her chest —Cora Sandel
- Sigh … tender and enchanting, like the wind outside a wood in the evening —Virginia Woolf
- A sigh that was like a gust of sand raised and dropped suddenly by the wind —Flannery O’Connor
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.