groan

Etymology

From Middle English gronen, granen, from Old English grānian (“to groan; lament; murmur”), from Proto-West Germanic *grainōn, from Proto-Germanic *grainōną (“to howl; weep”), from Proto-Germanic *grīnaną (“to whine; howl; whimper”). Cognate with Dutch grijnen, grienen (“to cry; sob; blubber”), German Low German grienen (“to whimper; mewl”), German greinen (“to whine; whimper”), Swedish grina (“to howl; weep; laugh”). The noun is from Middle English gron, grone, from the verb.

noun

1. A low, mournful sound uttered in pain or grief.
2. A low, guttural sound uttered in frustration, disapproval, or ecstasy.
3. (of an object) A low creaking sound from applied pressure or weight.

verb

1. To make a groan.
   We groaned at his awful jokes.
   The wooden table groaned under the weight of the banquet.
   Designed to accommodate 60,000 people per day in the 1960s, the main concourse, entrances and passageways around the station were by then positively groaning under the weight of more than 140,000 passengers every 24 hours. July 29 2020, Paul Stephen, “A new collaboration centred on New Street”, in Rail, page 54
2. (figurative) To seemingly creak under the strain of being heavily laden.
   That night the table in the outer dining room was just groaning with good things. 1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 14, column 1
3. (obsolete) To strive after earnestly, as if with groans.