[el-i-jee] 
| 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. |
| el·e·gy (ěl'ə-jē) n. pl. el·e·gies
[French élégie, from Latin elegīa, from Greek elegeia, from pl. of elegeion, elegiac distich, from elegos, song, mournful song.] |
A form of poetry that mourns the loss of someone who has died or something that has deteriorated. A notable example is the “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” by Thomas Gray. (Compare eulogy.)