cry for help

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cry for help (plural cries for help)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cry,‎ for,‎ help.

   We heard the drowning woman's cries for help and ran to assist.

2. (idiomatic) Acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help.

   In her second year at the school Alexis stopped doing her homework and would often scribble on walls. Her teachers wondered whether this was a cry for help, or if she was simply misbehaving.

   • 2023 February 20, Vanessa Friedman, quoting Tucker Carlson, “Don Lemon, Nikki Haley and the Lessons of a Hoodie”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Tucker Carlson (also a jacket and tie guy) picked up on the hoo-ha on his Fox News show, calling the hoodie-jacket combination a “cry for help” and inviting Roger Stone, the disgraced former political operative and author of his own “Best and Worst dressed List,” to comment.