dirge
[durj]
- a funeral song or tune, or one expressing mourning in commemoration of the dead.
- any composition resembling such a song or tune in character, as a poem of lament for the dead or solemn, mournful music: Tennyson's dirge for the Duke of Wellington.
- a mournful sound resembling a dirge: The autumn wind sang the dirge of summer.
- Ecclesiastical. the office of the dead, or the funeral service as sung.
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Origin of dirge
1175–1225; Middle English dir(i)ge < Latin: direct, syncopated variant of dīrige (imperative of dīrigere), first word of the antiphon sung in the Latin office of the dead (Psalm V, 8)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for dirge
Contemporary Examples
The 19th century, though, was a 100-year dirge from one horrid epidemic to another.
The design team sent out a dirge of mostly camel-colored leggings, leather shorts, tunics, and jackets.
It was the dirge of the British Empire in America, “The World Turned Upside Down.”
Historical Examples
Sometimes, by way of providing a varied entertainment, they sing a dirge.
The Devil's DictionaryAmbrose Bierce
But it was only the cold wind from the mountains whistling a dirge.
The Rock of ChickamaugaJoseph A. Altsheler
It was a dirge, which he was intoning as he bent over the cookstove.
Fair HarborJoseph Crosby Lincoln
"Neither did he," he observed, and began to whistle what sounded like a dirge.
ShavingsJoseph C. Lincoln
The entrance to the room where the Bella figlia had been succeeded by a dirge, was blocked.
The Paliser caseEdgar Saltus
dirge
- a chant of lamentation for the dead
- the funeral service in its solemn or sung forms
- any mourning song or melody
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Word Origin
C13: changed from Latin dīrigē direct (imperative), opening word of the Latin antiphon used in the office of the dead
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for dirge
n.
early 13c., dirige (current contracted form is from c.1400), from Latin dirige "direct!" imperative of dirigere "to direct," probably from antiphon Dirige, Domine, Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam, "Direct, O Lord, my God, my way in thy sight," from Psalm v:9, which opened the Matins service in the Office of the Dead. Transferred sense of "any funeral song" is from c.1500.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper