Adjacent Words

Dirge definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DIRGE, n. Durj. [L., a word used in the funeral service.] A song or tune intended to express grief, sorrow and mourning; as a funeral dirge.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person [syn: dirge, coronach, lament, requiem, threnody]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English dirige, the Office of the Dead, from the first word of a Late Latin antiphon, from Latin, imperative of dirigere to direct — more at dress Date: 13th century 1. a song or hymn of grief or lamentation; especially one intended to accompany funeral or memorial rites 2. a slow, solemn, and mournful piece of music 3. something (as a poem) that has the qualities of a dirge • dirgelike adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a lament for the dead, esp. forming part of a funeral service. 2 any mournful song or lament. Derivatives: dirgeful adj. Etymology: ME f. L dirige (imper.) direct, the first word in the Latin antiphon (from Ps.
5:8) in the Matins part of the Office for the Dead

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dirge Dirge, n. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, ``Dirige, Domine, in conspectu tuo vitam meam.'' See Direct, a., and cf. Dirige.] A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. The raven croaked, and hollow shrieks of owls Sung dirges at her funeral. --Ford.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(dirges) A dirge is a slow, sad song or piece of music. Dirges are sometimes performed at funerals. N-COUNT: usu sing

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Elegy, funeral song, mournful song, requiem, burial hymn, coronach.

Moby Thesaurus

Brautlied, Christmas carol, Dry Mass, English sonnet, Eucharistic rites, Horatian ode, Italian sonnet, Kunstlied, Lady Mass, Liebeslied, Low Mass, Mass, Missa, Missa bassa, Missa cantata, Missa legata, Missa media, Missa praesanctificatorum, Missa privata, Missa publica, Missa sicca, Petrarchan sonnet, Pindaric ode, Requiem Mass, Rosary, Rosary Mass, Sapphic ode, Shakespearean sonnet, Volkslied, alba, anacreontic, anthem, art song, aubade, balada, ballad, ballade, ballata, barcarole, bemoan, bewail, blues, blues song, boat song, bridal hymn, brindisi, bucolic, burial service, calypso, canso, canticle, canzone, canzonet, canzonetta, carol, cavatina, chanson, chant, chantey, clerihew, coronach, croon, croon song, dead march, death knell, death song, deathwatch, deplore, dithyramb, ditty, drinking song, eclogue, elegize, elegy, epic, epicedium, epigram, epithalamium, epode, epopee, epopoeia, epos, eulogy, exequies, extreme unction, folk song, funeral march, funeral oration, funeral rites, funeral song, georgic, ghazel, give sorrow words, graveside oration, grieve, haiku, hymeneal, idyll, jingle, keen, knell, lament, last duty, last honors, last offices, last rites, lay, lied, lilt, limerick, love song, love-lilt, lyric, madrigal, matin, minstrel song, minstrelsy, moan, monody, mourn, muffled drums, narrative poem, national anthem, nursery rhyme, obsequies, ode, palinode, passing bell, pastoral, pastoral elegy, pastorela, pastourelle, poem, prothalamium, repine, requiem, requiem mass, rhyme, rondeau, rondel, roundel, roundelay, satire, serena, serenade, serenata, sestina, sigh, sing the blues, sloka, song, sonnet, sonnet sequence, sorrow, tanka, tenso, tenzone, the Divine Liturgy, the Liturgy, theme song, threnode, threnody, torch song, triolet, troubadour poem, verse, verselet, versicle, viaticum, villanelle, virelay, wake, war song, wedding song, weep over