pine

See also: Pine and piné

English

WOTD – 14 December 2011

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • (UK, General American) IPA(key): /paɪn/
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪn

Etymology 1

    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.

    Noun

    pine (countable and uncountable, plural pines)

    1. (countable, uncountable) Any coniferous tree of the genus Pinus.
      Synonyms: pine tree, pinus
      The northern slopes were covered mainly in pine.
      • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
        I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
      • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Miss Thyrza’s Chair”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 41:
        Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.
    2. (countable) Any tree (usually coniferous) which resembles a member of this genus in some respect.
    3. (uncountable) The wood of this tree.
      Synonym: pinewood
    4. (archaic except Caribbean, Guyana, South Africa, Australia) A pineapple.
    5. (sports, uncountable, colloquial) The bench, where players sit when not playing.
      • 2013, Sam Zygner, The Forgotten Marlins, page 287:
        [] rather than languish on the pine in Miami.
      • 2019, Martin Copeland, The Boys from Dogtown:
        Take off your gear and hit the pine. And don't take your time. You understand me, boy?
    6. (uncountable, colloquial) A counter or bartop.
      I'll be behind the pine slinging your favorite cold ones, so come and see me!
    Derived terms
    Translations

    Etymology 2

      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.[1]

      Noun

      pine (plural pines)

      1. (archaic) A painful longing.
      Translations

      Etymology 3

        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).

        Verb

        pine (third-person singular simple present pines, present participle pining, simple past and past participle pined)

        1. (intransitive) To languish; to lose flesh or wear away through distress.
          Synonyms: languish, droop
          • c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. [], London: [] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, [], published 1633, →OCLC, Act I:
            Why pine not I, and die in this distress?
          • 1674, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. [], 2nd edition, London: [] S[amuel] Simmons [], →OCLC, pages 299–300:
            [T]hou mayſt know / What miſerie th' inabſtinence of Eve / Shall bring on men. Immediately a place / Before his eyes appeard, ſad, noyſom, dark, / A Lazar-houſe it ſeemd, wherein were laid / Numbers all diſeas'd, [] / [] / Dæmoniac Phrenzie, moaping Melancholie / And Moon-ſtruck madneſs, pining Atrophie, / Maraſmus and wide-waſting Peſtilence.
          • 170?, Thomas Tickell, To a Lady; With a Present of Flowers:
            This night shall see the gaudy wreath decline, The roses wither and the lilies pine.
          • 1855, John Sullivan Dwight (translator), “Oh Holy Night”, as printed in 1871, Adolphe-Charles Adam (music), “Cantique de Noël”, G. Schirmer (New York), originally by Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure, 1847
            Long lay the world in sin and error pining / Till He appear’d and the soul felt its worth
          • 1994, Walter Dean Myers, The Glory Field[1], →ISBN, page 29:
            The way the story went was that the man's foot healed up all right but that he just pined away.
          • 2001 May 15, Tool, “Reflection” (track 11), in Lateralus[2]:
            Before I pine away (Pine away)
        2. (intransitive) To long, to yearn so much that it causes suffering.
          Synonyms: long, yearn
          Laura was pining for Bill all the time he was gone.
          • 1969 December 7, Monty Python, “Full Frontal Nudity, Dead Parrot sketch”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, spoken by shopkeeper and Mr Praline (Michael Palin and John Cleese):
            Praline: "That parrot is definitely deceased. And when I bought it not half an hour ago you assured me that its lack of movement was due to it being tired and shagged out after a long squawk."
            Shopkeeper: "It's probably pining for the fiords."
            Praline: "Pining for the fiords, what kind of talk is that?"
          • 2016 August 14, Ross Douthat, “A Playboy for President”, in The New York Times[3]:
            Ten years ago, liberals pined for a post-religious right, a different culture war. Be careful what you wish for.
          • 2019 August 14, A. A. Dowd, “Good Boys Puts a Tween Spin on the R-rated Teen Comedy, to Mostly Funny Effect”, in The A.V. Club[4], archived from the original on 4 March 2021:
            Of the group, Max (Room’s Jacob Tremblay) is the most nominally mature, at least biologically speaking; unlike his childhood companions, he’s entered the early throes of puberty, and spends a lot of his waking hours pining, rather chastely, for a classmate (Millie Davis).
        3. (transitive) To grieve or mourn for.
          (Can we add an example for this sense?) (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
          Synonyms: bewail, lament; see also Thesaurus:lament
        4. (transitive) To inflict pain upon; to torment.
          Synonyms: afflict, torment, torture; see also Thesaurus:hurt
          • 1648, Joseph Hall, “The Breathings of the Devout Soul”, in Josiah Pratt, editor, The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall, D.D. [], volume VI (Devotional Works), London: [] C[harles] Whittingham, []; for Williams and Smith, [], published 1808, →OCLC, page 325:
            Which way, O Lord, which way can I look, and not see some sad examples of misery? [] [O]ne is pined in prison; another, tortured on the rack; a third, languisheth under the loss of a dear son, or wife, or husband.
        Derived terms
        Translations

        Further reading

        References

        1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “pine”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

        Anagrams

        Bih

        Etymology

        Inherited from Proto-Chamic *binay, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *binahi ~ *bahi, from Proto-Austronesian *bahi.

        Noun

        pine

        1. woman, girl

        Further reading

        • Tam Thi Min Nguyen, A grammar of Bih (2013)

        Danish

        Pronunciation

        • IPA(key): [ˈpʰiːnə]

        Etymology 1

        Via Old Saxon pīna from Medieval Latin pēna (punishment in hell), from Latin poena (punishment), a loan from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, penalty, fine, bloodmoney).

        Noun

        pine c (singular definite pinen, plural indefinite piner)

        1. torment
        2. (in compounds) ache
        Inflection
        Declension of pine
        common
        gender
        singular plural
        indefinite definite indefinite definite
        nominative pine pinen piner pinerne
        genitive pines pinens piners pinernes

        Etymology 2

        Borrowed from Middle Low German pīnen, derived from the noun.

        Verb

        pine (imperative pin, infinitive at pine, present tense piner, past tense pinte, perfect tense pint)

        1. torment
        2. torture

        Conjugation

        Conjugation of pine
        active passive
        present piner pines
        past pinte pintes
        infinitive pine pines
        imperative pin
        participle
        present pinende
        past pint
        (auxiliary verb have)
        gerund pinen

        Synonyms

        References

        French

        Pronunciation

        Etymology 1

        Originally “pinecone”, from Latin pīnea

        Noun

        pine f (plural pines)

        1. (slang) nob, penis

        Etymology 2

        See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

        Verb

        pine

        1. inflection of piner:
          1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
          2. second-person singular imperative

        Further reading

        Galician

        Verb

        pine

        1. inflection of pinar:
          1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
          2. third-person singular imperative

        Italian

        Pronunciation

        • IPA(key): /ˈpi.ne/
        • Rhymes: -ine
        • Hyphenation: pì‧ne

        Noun

        pine f

        1. plural of pina

        Anagrams

        Kongo

        Etymology

        Borrowed from French pneu.

        Noun

        pine

        1. tire

        Latin

        Noun

        pīne

        1. vocative singular of pīnus

        Lingala

        Etymology

        Borrowed from Kongo pine.

        Noun

        pine

        1. tire

        Māori

        Etymology

        Probably English pin

        Noun

        pine

        1. pin, tack, brooch

        Further reading

        • pine” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.

        Middle English

        Etymology 1

        Noun

        pine

        1. alternative form of pyne (pain, torture)

        Etymology 2

        Noun

        pine

        1. alternative form of pyne (pine tree)

        Etymology 3

        Verb

        pine

        1. alternative form of pynen (to injure)

        Norwegian Bokmål

        Etymology

        From Old Norse pína, from Latin poena.

        Noun

        pine f or m (definite singular pina or pinen, indefinite plural piner, definite plural pinene)

        1. pain, torment, torture

        Derived terms

        Verb

        pine (present tense piner, past tense pinte, past participle pint)

        1. to torment, to torture

        References

        Norwegian Nynorsk

        Etymology

        From Old Norse pína, from Latin poena.

        Noun

        pine f (definite singular pina, indefinite plural piner, definite plural pinene)

        1. pain, torment, torture

        Derived terms

        Verb

        pine (present tense piner, past tense pinte, past participle pint, passive infinitive pinast, present participle pinande, imperative pin)

        1. to torment, to torture

        Derived terms

        • seigpinast

        References

        Portuguese

        Verb

        pine

        1. inflection of pinar:
          1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
          2. third-person singular imperative

        West Frisian

        Etymology

        From Old Frisian pīne, borrowed from Latin pēna, borrowed from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ). Cognates include Saterland Frisian Piene and Dutch pijn.

        Noun

        pine c (plural pinen, diminutive pyntsje)

        1. pain, ache

        Further reading

        • pine”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

        Zazaki

        Noun

        pine

        1. patch
        2. (computing) patch