After the low of the row over the amount of corporation tax paid by Barclays and the long slow groan as bank after bank announced its multi-million-pound bonus pools, it seems the banks have had enough of having the sand kicked in their faces.

What came out, in a slow groan, was: Daaadeelsmaaastraaabaaaa.

She shivered against the cold, hearing the long slow groan of the distant tide.

Neville sank down on the next porch with a slow groan.

It came loose with a slow groan and a loud squeal, then clattered to the street.

As the temperature climbed, the Janus chamber began to make an entire symphony of sounds: meltwater dripping from a thousand places, then rushing and gurgling its way farther underground, the slow groan and thunderous cracking of ice detaching from the walls.

Behind him, his victim woke with a slow, wretched groan.

There were low grunts, chattering, and then a long, slow groan.

A slow, cumulative groan broke from the assembly as the meaning of his words gradually dawned on his hearers.

Faint to my ears came the gathered rumour of all lands: the springing and the dying, the song and the weeping, and the slow everlasting groan of overburdened stone.