(groans, groaning, groaned)
1.
If you groan, you make a long, low sound because you are in pain, or because you are upset or unhappy about something.
Slowly, he opened his eyes. As he did so, he began to groan with pain...
They glanced at the man on the floor, who began to groan...
She was making small groaning noises.
= moan
VERB: V with n, V, V-ing
•
Groan is also a noun.
She heard him let out a pitiful, muffled groan...
As his ball flew wide, there was a collective groan from the stands.
= moan
N-COUNT
2.
If you groan something, you say it in a low, unhappy voice.
'My leg-I think it's broken,' Eric groaned.
VERB: V with quote
3.
If you groan about something, you complain about it.
His parents were beginning to groan about the price of college tuition.
VERB: V about n
•
Groan is also a noun.
Listen sympathetically to your child's moans and groans about what she can't do.
N-COUNT
4.
If wood or something made of wood groans, it makes a loud sound when it moves.
The timbers groan and creak and the floorboards shift.
VERB: V
5.
If you say that something such as a table groans under the weight of food, you are emphasizing that there is a lot of food on it.
The bar counter groans under the weight of huge plates of the freshest fish.
...a table groaning with food.
VERB: V under/with n, V-ing [emphasis]
6.
If you say that someone or something is groaning under the weight of something, you think there is too much of that thing.
Consumers were groaning under the weight of high interest rates...
VERB: usu cont, V under n [disapproval]