pine
/paɪn/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms pines pining pined pyne
- noun (countable, uncountable) Any coniferous tree of the genus Pinus. “The northern slopes were covered mainly in pine.”
- noun (countable) Any tree (usually coniferous) which resembles a member of this genus in some respect.
- noun (uncountable) The wood of this tree.
- noun (archaic except Caribbean, Guyana, South Africa, Australia) A pineapple.
- noun (sports, uncountable, colloquial) The bench, where players sit when not playing.
- noun (uncountable, colloquial) A counter or bartop. “I'll be behind the pine slinging your favorite cold ones, so come and see me!”
- noun (archaic) A painful longing.
- verb (intransitive) To languish; to lose flesh or wear away through distress.
- verb (intransitive) To long, to yearn so much that it causes suffering. “Laura was pining for Bill all the time he was gone.”
- verb (transitive) To grieve or mourn for.
- verb (transitive) To inflict pain upon; to torment.
- proper noun A surname
Synonyms
pine tree pinus pinewood languish droop long yearn bewail lament afterthink becry begrieve bemoan bemourn beweep condole deplore elegize grieve grieven true pine ache yen
Etymology
From Middle English pyne, from Old English *pīne, from Proto-West Germanic *pīnā, from Latin pīnus, see there for more. Doublet of pinus. Possibly related to fat.
From Middle English pyne, pine, probably from Old English *pīne (“pain”), from Proto-West Germanic *pīnā (“pain, torment, torture”), possibly from Latin poena (“punishment”), from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “penalty, fine, bloodmoney”). Cognate to pain.
Entered Germanic with Christianity; cognate to Middle Dutch pinen, Old High German pīnōn, Old Norse pína.
From Middle English pynen, from Old English pīnian (“to torment”), from Proto-West Germanic *pīnōn, from Proto-West Germanic *pīnā (“pain, torment, torture”), from the noun (see above). Cognate with German peinigen (“to torment, torture”), Icelandic pína (“to torment”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Woe; torment; pain. [Obs.] "Pyne of hell." Chaucer.
- verb To inflict pain upon; to torment; to torture; to afflict. [Obs.]
- verb To grieve or mourn for. [R.] Milton.
- verb To suffer; to be afflicted. [Obs.]
Etymology [AS. pin, L. poena penalty. See Pain.]
Etymology [AS. pinan to torment, fr. pin torment. See 1st Pine, Pain, n. & v.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pine”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details