complain

COMPLAIN, verb intransitive 1. To utter expressions of grief; to lament. I will complain in the bitterness of my spirit. Job 7:11. I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Psalms 77:3. 2. To utter expressions of censure or resentment; to murmur; to find fault. And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord. Numbers 11:1. 3. To utter expressions of uneasiness, or pain. He complains of thirst. He complains of a head-ache. 4. To charge; to accuse of an offense; to present an accusation against a person to a proper officer. To A B, one of the justices of the peace for the county of S, complains C D. This verb is regularly followed by of, before the cause of grief or censure; as, to complain of thirst, of ignorance, of vice, of an offender. 5. To represent injuries, particularly in a writ of Audita Querela. COMPLAIN, verb transitive To lament; to bewail. They might the grievance inwardly complain This use of complain is uncommon, and hardly legitimate. The phrase is properly elliptical.