sigh

• enPR: sī, IPA^(key): /saɪ/
• Rhymes: -aɪ

• Audio (US)

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• Homophones: sie, sai, psi, xi, scye, Si, Sy, Cy

From Middle English sighen (“to sigh”), back-formation from sighte, past tense form of siken, from Old English sīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *sīkan, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ- (“to pour out”).

sigh (third-person singular simple present sighs, present participle sighing, simple past and past participle sighed)

1. (intransitive) 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, frustration, or the like.

   When she saw it wasn't damaged, she sighed with relief.

   He sighed. It was going to be a long night.

   He sighed over the lost opportunity.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     A waiter brought his aperitif, which was a small scotch and soda, and as he sipped it gratefully he sighed.
        ‘Civilized,’ he said to Mr. Campion. ‘Humanizing.’ […] ‘Cigars and summer days and women in big hats with swansdown face-powder, that's what it reminds me of.’

2. (intransitive) To lament; to grieve.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 8:12:

     He sighed deeply in his spirit.

3. (transitive) To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.
   • 1695, Matthew Prior, An ode presented to the king, on His Majesty's arrival in Holland, after the Queen's death:

     Ages to come, and men unborn, / Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate.

   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     The lassie had grace given her to refuse, but with a woeful heart, and Heriotside rode off in black discontent, leaving poor Ailie to sigh her love. He came back the next day and the next, but aye he got the same answer.

4. (intransitive) To make a sound like sighing.
   • 1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC:

     And the coming wind did roar more loud, / And the sails did sigh like sedge.

   • 1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Death of the Old Year”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:

     The winter winds are wearily sighing.

5. (transitive) To exhale (the breath) in sighs.

   She sighed a sigh that was nearly a groan.

   sigh a note and sing a note

   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]:

     Never man sighed truer breath.

6. (transitive) To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.

   "I guess I have no choice," she sighed.

   She sighed her frustrations.

   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     They […] sighed forth proverbs.

   • 1763, Torquato Tasso, translated by John Hoole, Jerusalem Delivered:

     The gentle swain […] sighs back her grief.

• (all): sithe (obsolete)

From Middle English sighe (“sigh”), from sighen (“to sigh”) (see #Etymology 1).

sigh (plural sighs)

1. A deep, prolonged audible inhale and exhale of breath; as when fatigued, frustrated, grieved, or relieved; the act of sighing.
   • 1913, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter 7, in Pollyanna‎, L.C. Page, →OCLC:

     To Pollyanna the air was all the more stifling after that cool breath of the out of doors; but she did not complain. She only drew a long quivering sigh.

2. (figurative) a manifestation of grief; a lament.
3. (Cockney rhyming slang) A person who is bored.

sigh

1. An expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like, often used in casual written contexts.

   Sigh, I'm so bored at work today.

• Gish, gish, shig