elegy

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“
Swift, with some of his usual party, happened to be in Mr. Sheridan's, in Capel Street, when the news of Demar's death was brought to them; and the elegy was the joint composition of the company.--_C.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A poem composed in elegiac couplets.
  2. noun A poem or song composed especially as a lament for a deceased person.
  3. noun Something resembling such a poem or song.
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Examples

  • His zeal seems to have been sincere and generous, and it is possible enough that the elegy was a reflection of his feelings, though it suggested an imaginary state of facts. —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Alexander Pope, by Leslie Stephen.
  • Swift, with some of his usual party, happened to be in Mr. Sheridan's, in Capel Street, when the news of Demar's death was brought to them; and the elegy was the joint composition of the company.--_C. —  The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 1
  • Where's thy remedy, O Taleb Thy remedy is lost, my good Lord Taleb Pray God for me, O Taleb, I implore But how to cure the malady of love There is no remedy, and all is lost I die for lack of strength to bear my trials It is to thee that I intrust myself The healer who must bring rest to my heart For now a living brand burns in my breast If thou art skilful, find a cure for me 1] This elegy is the work of a celebrated sheik of Tlemcen, Mahomet-Ben-Sahla, whose period was the first half of the eighteenth century. —  Moorish Literature
  • The form of the elegy is a dialogue betwixt a passenger and a domestic servant. —  The Bride of Lammermoor
  • In the collection of “Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea,” to which Lord Byron so skilfully had recourse for the technical knowledge and facts out of which he has composed his own powerful description, the reader will find the account of the loss of the Juno here referred to.] [Footnote 25: This elegy is in his first (unpublished) volume.] [Footnote 26: See page 25.] [Footnote 27: For the display of his declamatory powers, on the speech-days, he selected always the most vehement passages, — such as the speech of Zanga over the body of Alonzo, and Lear's address to the storm. —  Life of Lord Byron
 

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French élégie, from Latin elegīa, from Greek elegeia, from pl. of elegeion, elegiac distich, from elegos, song, mournful song.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly elegie; = D. G. elegie = Danish Swedish elegi, from Old French elegie, French élégie = Spanish elegía = Portuguese Italian elegia, from Latin elegīa, also elegēa, elegeia, from Greek ἐλεγεία, feminine singular, but orig. neuter plural, τα\ ἐλεγεῖα, an elegiac poem, in reference to the meter (later a lament, an elegy), plural of ἐλεγεῖον, a distich consisting of a hexameter and a pentameter (later Late Latin elegium, elegēum, elegīon, elegēon, an elegy; cf. L. diminutive elegidion, elegidarion, a short elegy), neuter (sc. μέτρον, meter, or ἔπος, poem) of ἐλεγεῖος, properly pertaining to a song of mourning, elegiac, from ἐλεγος, a song of mourning, a lament, later (in reference to the usual meter of such songs) any poem in distichs; origin unknown. The usual derivation from ἐ ε) λέγε, ‘cry woe! woe!’ a refrain in such songs (ἐ ε) or rather ἐέ, an interjection of pain or grief, like English ah, ay, etc.; λέγε, 2d person singular imperative of λέγειν, say), is no doubt erroneous.
 

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/ˈɛlədʒi/
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