| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| keen2 |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  k n |
| NOUN: | A loud, wailing lament for the dead. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: keened, keen·ing, keens
To wail in lamentation, especially for the dead. See synonyms at cry. | | ETYMOLOGY: | From Irish Gaelic caoineadh, from caoninim, I lament, from Old Irish caínim, coínim, perhaps of Brittonic origin. | | OTHER FORMS: | keen er —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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