1. To utter expressions of grief; to lament.
I will complain in the bitterness of my spirit. Job 7.
I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Psa 77.
2. To utter expressions of censure or resentment; to murmur; to find fault.
And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord. Num 11.
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.
, v.t. To lament; to bewail.
They might the grievance inwardly complain.
This use of complain is uncommon, and hardly legitimate. The phrase is properly elliptical.