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To choose; to select. [Obs.] "Wailed wine and meats." Henryson.

One who wails or laments.

A woman who wails. [Obs.]

Sorrowful; mournful. " Like wailful widows." Spenser. "Wailful sonnets." Shak.

In a wailing manner.

Lamentation; loud weeping; wailing. [Obs.] Bp. Hacket.

The sloth bear (Melursus labiatus) of India.

To express deep sorrow for, as by wailing; to lament; to wail over. Hath widowed and unchilded many a one, Which to this hour bewail the injury. Shak.

Such as may, or ought to, be bewailed; lamentable.

One who bewails or laments.

Wailing over; lamenting. -- Be*wail"ing*ly, adv.

The act of bewailing.

A low, narrowleaved evergreen shrub (Cneorum tricoccon) found in Southern Europe.

Irish and Scotch peasantry to warn a family of the speedy death of one of its members, by wailing or singing in a mournful voice under the windows of the house.

atural being supposed to warn a family of the approaching death of one of its members, by wailing or singing in a mournful voice.

To surround with an army so as to preclude escape; to besiege; to blockade. The wail of famine in beleaguered towns. Longfellow.

To express deep grief for by moaning; to express sorrow for; to lament; to bewail; to pity or sympathize with. Implores their pity, and his pain bemoans. Dryden.

To lament; to bewail. [Obs.] They might the grievance inwardly complain. Daniel. By chaste Lucrece's soul that late complain'd Her wrongs to us. Shak.

domes and coved roofs. H. Swinburne. Coved ceiling, a ceiling, the part of which next the wail is constructed in a cove. -- Coved vault, a vault composed of four coves meeting in a central point, and therefore the reverse of a groined vault.

One dearly beloved; a favorite. And can do naught but wail her darling's loss. Shak.