pule means A plaintive melancholy whine.
pule is pronounced /pjuːl/.
Why “pule” is a great word
To emit weak, plaintive cries or whimpers. From French piauler, a variant of piailler ('to chirp, cheep'), likely of imitative origin; first recorded in English 1525–35. Unlike 'whine,' with its grating edge of petulant demand, or 'sob,' which breaks forth in ragged, heaving gasps, to pule is a feeble and continuous lament. It is the mewling of a chilled kitten in a cardboard box, the thin, reedy complaint of a feverish child half-asleep, or the faint, broken keening heard from the next room when all other grief has been spent—the audible tremor of a vulnerability too profound for strength, a trace of sorrow left in the air as faint and lingering as the scent of rain on dry stone.
Etymology
From French piauler, a variant of French piailler (“to chirp, cheep”). Compare Italian pigolare (“to cheep as a chicken”).
noun
- A plaintive melancholy whine.
- A Serbian cheese made from donkey milk.
verb
- To whimper or whine.e.g.“Although the elderly man felt mounting pain from his illness, he never complained or puled.”
- To pipe or chirp.
- To fall in a continuous, light dribble.