Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COM-PLAIN', v.i. [Fr. complaindre; con or com and plaindre, plaint, to lament, to bewail; Sp. planir; It. compiagnere, or compiangere; from the L. plango, to strike, to lament. If n is not radical, the original word was plago, coinciding with plaga, Gr. πληγη. But this is doubtful. The primary sense is to drive, whence to strike and to lament, that is, to strike the hands or breasts, as in extreme grief, or to drive forth the voice, as in appello.]

1. To utter expressions of grief; to lament. I will complain in the bitterness of my spirit. – Job vii. I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. – Ps. lxxvii.
2. To utter expressions of censure or resentment; to a murmur; to find fault. And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord. – Numb. xi.
3. To utter expressions of uneasiness, or pain. He complains of thirst. He complains of a head-ache.
4. To charge; to accuse of an offense; to present an accusation against a person to a proper officer. To A B, one of the justices of the peace for the county of S, complains C D. This verb is regularly followed by of, before the cause of grief or censure; as, to complain of thirst, of ignorance, of vice, of an offender.
5. To represent injuries, particularly in a writ of Audita Querela.