cry [ME] The word cry is first recorded with the meanings ‘ask for earnestly’, ‘ask for loudly’. It comes via French from Latin quiritare ‘raise a public outcry’, literally ‘call on the Quirites (Roman citizens) for help’. Early examples of cry centre around sound—sometimes in sorrow or distress. The association with tears is also recorded in Middle English, where it is linked with *weep, but the specific sense of shed tears is mid 16th century. Decry [E17th] originally had the sense ‘decrease the value of coins by royal proclamation’.