Tuesday, July 19, 2011

repine



repine [rɪˈpaɪn] v.i.

1.) To be discontented or low in spirits; complain or fret.
2.) To yearn after something: "Immigrants who repined for their homeland" (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).

Etymology: Middle English repinen, to be aggrieved : re- + pinen, to yearn.

"The night of sorrow now is turn'd to day:
Her two blue windows faintly she up-heaveth,
Like the fair sun, when in his fresh array
He cheers the morn, and all the earth relieveth:
    And as the bright sun glorifies the sky,
    So is her face illumin'd with her eye;

Whose beams upon his hairless face are fix'd,
As if from thence they borrow'd all their shine.
Were never four such lamps together mix'd,
Had not his clouded with his brows' repine;
    But hers, which through the crystal tears gave
          light,
    Shone like the moon in water seen by night" (Venus and Adonis, William Shakespeare, 1593).

Note: Shakespeare uses "repine" as a noun here.

(Venus und Adonis, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, ~1800)

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really need to start reading more Shakespearean poetry; I've read a lot of his plays but not so many poems, i'm ashamed to admit, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading Venus and Adonis. At the end of it, you might even say I felt something akin to repine.

A Beer for the Shower said...

When simply pining just won't do the trick...

Leeann @ Join the Gossip said...

I'm loving this blog - very cool idea :)

Melanie said...

The first definition has been me a lot lately.

Mai Yang said...

it's like.."Mai Yang who repine for her school" hehe ^_^
nice one ^_^

Anonymous said...

Based on the yearning definition of this word, what's the difference between "repine" and "pine?"

And how you know that about Florida crab claws is beyond me! Haha. :)

Unknown said...

ahahaha @A Beer for the Shower

D4 said...

I like this one because it's simpler and easy to remember. Hurrah for.. me!

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Dead? That parrot's not dead! He's just repining . . . repining for the fjords. (Hmmm, just not the same ring to it).

Zombie said...

now I have a new word to saw when I complain about stuff! lol.

Unknown said...

I guess I can say I repine for London. Or maybe for a decent cup of coffee.

MRanthrope said...

the 2nd example of repine made me think of the opening scene from Godfather II. Poor Vito.

Drake Sigar said...

I’ve heard the phrase ‘to pine’ which on first glance seems to have an identical definition. Did we condense the word or something?

Drake Sigar said...

Also it should be noted Shakespeare just flat out made a lot of words up, the sneaky git. XD

Anonymous said...

Great blog. really good information here.

Magixx said...

nice post, keep it up

Jon Dujaka said...

I am getting smarter by reading your blog!

themajessty said...

great word.

shari said...

Similar to pine? Haven't heard of it, actually... good one!

Shaw said...

Seems to have a decent range of use.

Post a Comment