sigh Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun an utterance made by exhaling audibly
suspiration.
noun a sound like a person sighing
- she heard the sigh of the wind in the trees
verb heave or utter a sigh; breathe deeply and heavily
suspire.
- She sighed sadly
verb utter with a sigh

OE. sighen, sien; cf. also OE. siken, AS. sican, and OE. sighten, siten, sichten, AS. siccettan; all, perhaps, of imitative origin.

imperfect & past participle Sighed ; present participle & verbal noun Sighing

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.
Hence, to lament; to grieve.
He sighed deeply in his spirit. Mark viii. 12.
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.

To exhale (the breath) in sighs.
Never man sighed truer breath. Shak.
To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.
Ages to come, and men unborn, Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate. Pior.
To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.
They . . . sighed forth proverbs. Shak.

The gentle swain . . . sighs back her grief. Hoole.

OE. sigh; cf. OE. sik. See Sigh, v. i.

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.
Figuratively, a manifestation of grief; a lanent.
With their sighs the air Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite. Milton.