Sigh (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sighed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Sighing.] [OE. sighen, sien; cf. also OE. siken, AS. sican, and OE. sighten, siten, sichten, AS. siccettan; all, perhaps, of imitative origin.]
1.
To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, or the like.
2.
Hence, to lament; to grieve.
He sighed deeply in his spirit.
Mark viii. 12.
3.
To make a sound like sighing.
And the coming wind did roar more loud,
And the sails did sigh like sedge.
Coleridge.
The winter winds are wearily sighing.
Tennyson.
An extraordinary pronunciation of this word as sith is still heard in England and among the illiterate in the United States.
© Webster 1913.
Sigh, v. t.
1.
To exhale (the breath) in sighs.
Never man sighed truer breath.
Shak.
2.
To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.
Ages to come, and men unborn,
Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate.
Pior.
3.
To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.
They . . . sighed forth proverbs.
Shak.
The gentle swain . . . sighs back her grief.
Hoole.
© Webster 1913.
Sigh, n. [OE. sigh; cf. OE. sik. See Sigh, v. i.]
1.
A deep and prolonged audible inspiration or respiration of air, as when fatigued or grieved; the act of sighing.
I could drive the boat with my sighs.
Shak.
2.
Figuratively, a manifestation of grief; a lanent.
With their sighs the air
Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite.
Milton.
© Webster 1913.