Word.ws English Dictionary

cry over spilt milk

cry over spilt milk verb: to worry about unfortunate events which have already happened and which cannot be changed.

Verb

cry over spilt milk (third-person singular simple present cries over spilt milk, present participle crying over spilt milk, simple past and past participle cried over spilt milk)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To worry about unfortunate events which have already happened and which cannot be changed.
    • 'Tis a Folly to cry for spilt Milk.1738, Jonathan Swift, A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation
    • The Willington Mare, when she started so fast, Ah! we little thought then that the race was her last: Accurst be the stake that was stained with her blood! But, why cry for spilt milk?—May the next be as good.1833, Mr. Warburton, The Sportsman's Cabinet, and Town and Country Magazine, volumes 1-2, page 376

cry over spilt milk meaning in Arabic

cry over spilt milk in Arabic

to worry about unfortunate events which have already happened
لَا تَبْكِ عَلَى اَلْحَلِيب اَلْمَسْكُوب lā tabki ʕalā l-ḥalīb al-maskūb

Forms of cry over spilt milk

third-person singular presentcries over spilt milk
present participlecrying over spilt milk
past participlecried over spilt milk
pastcried over spilt milk
alternative formcry over spilled milk

Questions about cry over spilt milk

What does cry over spilt milk mean?
Cry over spilt milk means to worry about unfortunate events which have already happened and which cannot be changed.
What is cry over spilt milk in Arabic?
Cry over spilt milk in Arabic is لَا تَبْكِ عَلَى اَلْحَلِيب اَلْمَسْكُوب (lā tabki ʕalā l-ḥalīb al-maskūb). See Cry over spilt milk meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is cry over spilt milk?
Cry over spilt milk is a verb.
What is the past tense of cry over spilt milk?
The past tense of cry over spilt milk is cried over spilt milk.

Words near cry over spilt milk in the dictionary

  1. cry on
  2. cry one's eyes out
  3. cry oneself to sleep
  4. cry out
  5. cry out for
  6. cry over spilt milk
  7. cry poormouth
  8. cry room
  9. cry rooms
  10. cry someone a river
  11. cry stinking fish

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cry over spilt milk (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-dont cry over spilt milk.ogg.

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