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elegies - 2 dictionary results

el⋅e⋅gy

  [el-i-jee]
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–noun, plural -gies.
1. a mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem, esp. a funeral song or a lament for the dead.
2. a poem written in elegiac meter.
3. a sad or mournful musical composition.
Origin:
1505–15; (< MF) < L elegīa < Gk elegeía, orig. neut. pl. of elegeîos elegiac, equiv. to éleg(os) a lament + -eios adj. suffix
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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el·e·gy   (ěl'ə-jē)   
n.   pl. el·e·gies
  1. A poem composed in elegiac couplets.
    1. A poem or song composed especially as a lament for a deceased person.
    2. Something resembling such a poem or song.
  3. Music A composition that is melancholy or pensive in tone.

[French élégie, from Latin elegīa, from Greek elegeia, from pl. of elegeion, elegiac distich, from elegos, song, mournful song.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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