sob1
/sɒb
/verb (sobs, sobbing, sobbed) [no object]
1Cry noisily, making loud, convulsive gasps: he broke down and sobbed like a child he sobbed himself to sleep...
- Now I don't care any more what other people think and now I sob out loud as well.
- Jessica didn't want to cry again, but before she knew it she was sobbing louder than she ever had before.
- The line repeated endlessly in my head as he screamed louder, the woman sobbing harder.
Synonyms
weep, cry, shed tears, snivel, whimper, whine, howl, mewl, bawl;
Scottish greet
informal blub, blubber, boohoo
British informal grizzle
1.1 [with object] Say while crying noisily: she sobbed out her troubles to him [with direct speech]: ‘I thought they’d killed you,’ he sobbed weakly...
- This, and the girls sobbing outside auditions, ‘I just wanna be famous’.
- But above all, we have seen people dying, heard people sobbing their last words.
- She mustered courage and sobbed out the story of her torture by the prison guard to the jail boss.
noun
An act or sound of sobbing: with a sob of despair she threw herself on to the bed...
- A louder sob came from the girl who had broke down crying.
- I could not control it, a soft choked sob escaped from my lips.
- Small choking sobs escaped from him as he began to cry.
Derivatives
sobbingly
- At this juncture the movie and the short story are similar, though seeing Gretta suck her thumb when she sobbingly falls asleep after airing her remembrance creates a further dimension in the film.
- In the police station, she sobbingly confesses her true identity.
- ‘Tara, slow down,’ I ordered as Tara sobbingly explained something.
Origin
Middle English: perhaps of Dutch or Low German origin; compare with Dutch dialect sabben 'to suck'.
Rhymes
SOB2
(also s.o.b.)
abbreviation North American informal
Short for son of a bitch.This SOB had better do time in the clink....
- He was typecast for years as a pugnacious gangster and ornery little SOB.
- I hope you nail the SOB.