King James Bible Dictionary

COMPLAIN, verb intransitive

1. To utter expressions of grief; to lament.

I will complain in the bitterness of my spirit. Job 7:11.

I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Psalms 77:3.

2. To utter expressions of censure or resentment; to murmur; to find fault.

And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord. Numbers 11:1.

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.

COMPLAIN, verb transitive To lament; to bewail.

They might the grievance inwardly complain

This use of complain is uncommon, and hardly legitimate. The phrase is properly elliptical.

COMPLAINABLE, adjective That may be complained of.

COMPLAINANT, noun

1. A prosecutor; one who prosecutes by complaint, or commences a legal process against an offender for the recovery of a right or penalty.

He shall forfeit one moiety to the use of the town; and the other moiety to the use of the complainant

2. The plaintiff in a writ of Audita Querela.

COMPLAINER, noun One who complains, or expresses grief; one who laments; one who finds fault; a murmurer.

These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts. Jude 1:16.

COMPLAINFUL, adjective Full of complaint.

COMPLAINING, participle present tense Expressing grief, sorrow, or censure; finding fault; murmuring; lamenting; accusing of an offense.

COMPLAINING, noun The expression of regret, sorrow, or injury.

See Murmuring
Murmuring

COMPLAINT, noun

1. Expression of grief, regret, pain, censure, or resentment; lamentation; murmuring; a finding fault.

Even to day is my complaint bitter. Job 23:2.

2. The cause or subject of complaint or murmuring.

The poverty of the clergy hath been the complaint of all who wish well to the church.

3. The cause of complaint or of pain and uneasiness in the body; a malady; a disease; usually applied to disorders not violent; as a complaint in the bowels or breast.

4. Accusation; a charge against an offender, made by a private person or informer to a justice of the peace or other proper officer, alleging that the offender has violated the law, and claiming the penalty due to the prosecutor. It differs from an information, which is the prosecution of an offender by the Attorney or Solicitor General; and from a presentment and indictment, which are the accusation of a Grand Jury.

5. Representation of injuries, in a general sense; and appropriately, in a writ of Audita Querela.