KJV Dictionary Definition: complain

complain

COMPLAIN, v.i.

1. To utter expressions of grief; to lament.

I will complain in the bitterness of my spirit. Job 7.

I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Ps. 77.

2. To utter expressions of censure or resentment; to murmur; to find fault.

And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord. Num. 11.

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, v.t. To lament; to bewail.

They might the grievance inwardly complain.

This use of complain is uncommon, and hardly legitimate. The phrase is properly elliptical.

complainable

COMPLAINABLE, a. That may be complained of.

complainant

COMPLAINANT, n.

1. A prosecutor; one who prosecutes by complaint, or commences a legal process against an offender for the recovery of a right or penalty.

He shall forfeit one moiety to the use of the town; and the other moiety to the use of the complainant.

2. The plaintiff in a writ of Audita Querela.

complainer

COMPLAINER, n. One who complains, or expresses grief; one who laments; one who finds fault; a murmurer.

These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts. Jude 16.

complainful

COMPLAINFUL, a. Full of complaint.

complaining

COMPLAINING, ppr. Expressing grief, sorrow, or censure; finding fault; murmuring; lamenting; accusing of an offense.

COMPLAINING, n. The expression of regret, sorrow, or injury.

Definitions from Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.
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