lamentation

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of lamenting.
2. n. A lament.
3. n. See Table at Bible.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of bewailing; expression of sorrow; a mournful outcry.
2. n. plural The shorter title of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, one of the poetical books of the Old Testament. In the Septuagint, as in the English Bible, it stands immediately after the Book of Jeremiah, of which it probably originally formed a continuation. Its subject is the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. It was probably composed immediately after the taking of the city (586 b. c.), while the wounds of the nation were still fresh. Jeremiah has been generally regarded by Christian scholars as its author.
3. n. plural The music to which the first three lessons, taken from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, are sung in the Roman Catholic Church, in the office called Tenebræ, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of Holy Week. Synonyms Mourning, complaint, plaint, moan, moaning, wailing, outcry. See lament, v. i.

Wiktionary

1. n. The act of lamenting.
2. n. A sorrowful cry; a lament.
3. n. Specifically, mourning.
4. n. lamentatio, (part of) a liturgical Bible text (from the book of Job) and its musical settings, usually in the plural; hence, any dirge
5. n. A group of swans.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of bewailing; audible expression of sorrow; wailing; moaning.
2. n. A book of the Old Testament attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, and taking its name from the nature of its contents.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the passionate and demonstrative activity of expressing grief
2. n. a cry of sorrow and grief