Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Ache

{

Ach

,

Ache

}
,
Noun.
[F.
ache
, L.
apium
parsley.]
A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley.
[Obs.]
Holland.

Ache

,
Noun.
[OE.
ache
, AS.
æce
,
ece
, fr.
acan
to ache. See
Ache
,
Verb.
I.
]
Continued pain, as distinguished from sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain. “Such an ache in my bones.”
Shak.
☞ Often used in composition, as, a headache, an earache, a toothache.

Ache

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Ached
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Aching
.]
[OE.
aken
, AS.
acan
, both strong verbs, AS.
acan
, imp.
ōc
, p. p.
acen
, to ache; perh. orig. to drive, and akin to
agent
.]
To suffer pain; to have, or be in, pain, or in continued pain; to be distressed.
“My old bones ache.”
Shak.
The sins that in your conscience
ache
.
Keble.

Webster 1828 Edition

Ache

ACHE

,
Verb.
I.
ake.
[Gr. to ache or be in pain. The primary sense is to be pressed. Perhaps the oriental to press.]
1.
To suffer pain; to have or be in pain, or in continued pain; as, the head aches.
2.
To suffer grief, or extreme grief; to be distressed; as the heart aches.

ACHE

,
Noun.
ake.
Pain, or continued pain, in opposition to sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain. it denotes a more moderate degree of pain than pang, anguish, and torture.

Definition 2024

Ache

Ache

See also: ache

English

Proper noun

Ache

  1. A language spoken by the Yi people of South-Western China.

See also

Anagrams

ache

ache

See also: Ache

English

Alternative forms

  • ake (obsolete)

Pronunciation

  • enPR: āk, IPA(key): /eɪk/
  • Rhymes: -eɪk

Verb

ache ‎(third-person singular simple present aches, present participle aching, simple past ached or (obsolete) oke, past participle ached or (obsolete) aken)

  1. (intransitive) To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed.
    • c. 1593, Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene V:
      Fie, how my bones ache!
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.
  2. (transitive, literary, rare) To cause someone or something to suffer pain.
Derived terms
Translations

See also

Noun

ache ‎(plural aches)

  1. Continued dull pain, as distinguished from sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain.
    • c. 1610, Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I, Scene II:
      Fill all thy bones with aches.
Derived terms
Translations

References

  • Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition.

Etymology 2

From Old French and modern French ache, from Latin apium ‎(“celery”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: āch, IPA(key): /eɪt͡ʃ/
  • Rhymes: -eɪt͡ʃ

Noun

ache ‎(plural aches)

  1. (obsolete) Parsley.

Etymology 3

Representing the pronunciation of the letter H.

Noun

ache ‎(plural aches)

  1. (rare) A variant spelling of aitch.

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

IPA(key): /aʃ/

Noun

ache f ‎(plural aches)

  1. celery (plant)

Noun

ache m ‎(plural aches)

  1. aitch, The name of the Latin-script letter H/h.

Norman

Noun

ache f ‎(uncountable)

  1. (Jersey) wild celery

Synonyms

Portuguese

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: a‧che

Verb

ache

  1. First-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of achar
  2. Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você?) present subjunctive of achar
  3. Third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of achar
  4. Third-person singular (você) negative imperative of achar

Etymology

From Middle English aken ‎(verb), and ache ‎(noun), from Old English acan ‎(verb) (from Proto-Germanic *akaną ‎(“to be bad, be evil”)) and æċe ‎(noun) (from Proto-Germanic *akiz), both from Proto-Indo-European *ag- ‎(“sin, crime”). Cognate with Low German aken, achen, äken ‎(“to hurt, to ache”), North Frisian akelig, æklig ‎(“terrible, miserable, sharp, intense”), West Frisian aaklik ‎(“nasty, horrible, dismal, dreary”), Dutch akelig ‎(“nasty, horrible”). The noun was originally pronounced as spelled, with a palatized ch sound (compare batch, from bake); the verb was originally strong, conjugating for tense like take (e.g. I ake, I oke, I have aken), but gradually became weak during Middle English. Historically the verb was spelled ake, and the noun ache. The verb came to be spelled like the noun when lexicographist Samuel Johnson mistakenly assumed that it derived from Ancient Greek ἄχος ‎(ákhos, “pain”) due to the similarity in form and meaning of the two words.

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