elegy

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“
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.

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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 (50)

  • It is an elegy, and cannot, therefore, rank as high as an equally consummate example of epic, lyric, or dramatic art. —  Life of John Milton
  • The conclusion of this elegy is irresistably affecting So peaceful rests, without a stone, a name Which once had beauty, titles, wealth and fame How lov'd, how honoured once, avails thee not To whom related, or by whom begot A heap of dust alone remains of thee Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be! —  The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753), Vol. V.
  • On Thornton, a member of the same hall, the most favoured of these associates, whom he lost when a young man, he wrote an elegy, which is one of the best of his works. —  Lives of the English Poets
  • Milton's fourth elegy is addressed to Young, when, in 1627, he was settled at Hamburg, crediting him with having first infused into his pupil a taste for classic literature and poetry. —  Milton
  • Guy Gavriel Kay has always played along the edges of memory, elegy, and romantic love. —  FSFMagazine,June2007
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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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