Language & Culture: Crying

Idioms with the verb "cry"

Cry for the moon: to demand something impossible

Cry your eyes/heart out: to cry very sadly and usually for a long time
When his dog died, he cried his eyes out.

Cry over spilt milk: to waste time being sorry about something that cannot now be changed
It’s no use crying over spilt milk- we’ve got to decide what to do next.

Cry wolf: to cry for help unnecessarily, risking the possibility that people will not believe that you need help later when you need when you really do (from Aesop’s story of a boy who was guarding sheep. He kept shouting “Wolf!” even though there was no wolf there, because he found his work boring, so that when a wolf did really come, no one believed him.
A spokesman for the Theatre Campaign said: “No longer can the government say we’re crying wolf. Cuts have gone so deep that we are now reduced to shutting theatres for a time.”

Cultural Issues on Crying

In the US and the UK, women are allowed by society to cry, but men do not cry very much. It is acceptable for men to cry in particular situations, for example when someone cries, but most men do not feel comfortable at other times. A young boy who cries is sometimes disapproved of, and called a crybaby.