dirge
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.
Origin of dirge
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use dirge in a sentence
The victorious Republicans hardly knew whether to sing triumphant songs or funeral dirges.
Madame Roland, Makers of History | John S. C. AbbottI seem now to hear the dirges played by the bands, and the volleys fired by the soldiers over the graves of their dead comrades.
A Raw Recruit's War Experiences | Ansel D. NickersonIt is no mournful solemnity, with dirges and elegies for one about to die; but a Feast—a strange way of celebrating a death.
Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of Matthew | John Monro GibsonThe musicians from the dance-halls turn out, play dirges, and with due pomp and ceremony the funeral is conducted.
Seventy Years on the Frontier | Alexander MajorsDirges were sung and the deceased was extolled, but when night came the lights were extinguished and the corpse was left alone.
Auld Licht Idyls | J. M. Barrie
British Dictionary definitions for dirge
/ (dɜːdʒ) /
a chant of lamentation for the dead
the funeral service in its solemn or sung forms
any mourning song or melody
Origin of dirge
1Derived forms of dirge
- dirgeful, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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