weeper

UK: /ˈwiːpə/ US: (wē′pər)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

weep•er  (wē′pər), n. 

1. a person who weeps.
2. (formerly) a hired mourner at a funeral.
3. something worn as a badge of mourning, as a widow's black veil.
4. a wine bottle that has lost some of its contents through the cork.
5. any of various loose-hanging, streamerlike objects, as a long, hanging hatband or a strand of moss hanging from a tree.
6. Informal Terms a sad story, motion picture, song, or the like, that is apt to make one cry.

• 1350–1400; Middle English; see weep¹, -er¹

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

weeper / ˈwiːpə/ noun

1. a person who weeps, esp a hired mourner
2. something worn as a sign of mourning

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

weep¹ /wip/   v., wept/wɛpt/  weep•ing. 

1. to shed (tears) because of strong emotion: [no object]
   They wept for days over his sudden death.
   [~ + object]
   wept bitter tears.
2. to give out or exude (liquid, as water or blood): [no object]
   The wound is weeping.
   [~ + object]
   a wound weeping blood.

weep•er, n. [countable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

weep¹  (wēp), v., wept, weep•ing, n. 
v.i. 

1. to express grief, sorrow, or any overpowering emotion by shedding tears;
   shed tears;
   cry:
   to weep for joy; to weep with rage.
2. to let fall drops of water or other liquid;
   drip;
   leak:
   The old water tank was weeping at the seams.
3. to exude water or liquid, as soil, a rock, a plant stem, or a sore.

v.t. 
4. to weep for (someone or something);
   mourn with tears or other expression of sorrow:
   He wept his dead brother.
5. to shed (tears);
   pour forth in weeping:
   to weep tears of gratitude.
6. to let fall or give forth in drops:
   trees weeping an odorous gum.
7. to pass, bring, put, etc., to or into a specified condition with the shedding of tears (usually fol. by away, out, etc.):
   to weep one's eyes out; to weep oneself to sleep.

n. 
8. weeping, or a fit of weeping.
9. the exudation of water or liquid.
• bef. 900; Middle English wepen, Old English wēpan to wail; cognate with Gothic wōpjan to call, Old Norse æpa to cry out
Synonyms
• 1. sob; wail, lament.
• 4. bewail, bemoan, lament.
Antonyms
• 1. laugh, rejoice.

weep²  (wēp), n. [Brit. Dial.]

1. the lapwing, Vanellus vanellus, of Europe.

• imitative