Adjacent Words

Mourn definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MOURN, v.i. [L. maereo.]
1. To express grief or sorrow; to grieve; to be sorrowful. Mourning may be expressed by weeping or audible sounds, or by sobs, sighs or inward silent grief.
Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep. Genesis 23.
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5.
2. To wear the customary habit of sorrow.
We mourn in black.
Grieve for an hour perhaps, then mourn a year.
MOURN, v.t. To grieve for; to lament. But there is an ellipsis of for, the verb not being transitive. When we say, we mourn a friend or a child, the real sense and complete phrase is, we mourn for a friend, or mourn for the loss of a friend. "He mourn'd his rival's ill success," that is,he mourned for his rival's ill success.
1. To utter in a sorrowful manner.
The love lorn nightingale
Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: feel sadness; "She is mourning her dead child"
2: observe the customs of mourning after the death of a loved one

Merriam Webster's

verb Etymology: Middle English, from Old English murnan; akin to Old High German morn?n to mourn, Greek merm?ra care — more at memory Date: before 12th century intransitive verb 1. to feel or express grief or sorrow 2. to show the customary signs of grief for a death; especially to wear mourning 3. to murmur mournfully — used especially of doves transitive verb 1. to feel or express grief or sorrow for 2. to utter mournfully • mourner noun • mourningly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 tr. & (foll. by for) intr. feel or show deep sorrow or regret for (a dead person, a lost thing, a past event, etc.). 2 intr. show conventional signs of grief for a period after a person's death. Etymology: OE murnan

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mourn Mourn, v. t. 1. To grieve for; to lament; to deplore; to bemoan; to bewail. As if he mourned his rival's ill success. --Addison. And looking over the hills, I mourn The darling who shall not return. --Emerson. 2. To utter in a mournful manner or voice. The lovelorn nightingale Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well. --Milton. Syn: See Deplore.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mourn Mourn, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Mourned; p. pr. & vb. n. Mourning.] [AS. murnan; akin to OS. mornian, OHG. mornen, Goth. ma['u]rnan.] 1. To express or to feel grief or sorrow; to grieve; to be sorrowful; to lament; to be in a state of grief or sadness. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. --Gen. xxiii. 2. 2. To wear the customary garb of a mourner. We mourn in black; why mourn we not in blood? --Shak. Grieve for an hour, perhaps, then mourn a year. --Pope.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(mourns, mourning, mourned) 1. If you mourn someone who has died or mourn for them, you are very sad that they have died and show your sorrow in the way that you behave. Joan still mourns her father... He mourned for his valiant men... As the nation continued to mourn, the new President of South Africa paid his own tribute. VERB: V n, V for n, V 2. If you mourn something or mourn for it, you regret that you no longer have it and show your regret in the way that you behave. We mourned the loss of our cities... She mourned for the beloved past. VERB: V n, V for n 3. see also mourning

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Frequent references are found in Scripture to, (1.) Mourning for the dead. Abraham mourned for Sarah (Gen. 23:2); Jacob for Joseph (37:34, 35); the Egyptians for Jacob (50:3-10); Israel for Aaron (Num. 20:29), for Moses (Deut. 34:8), and for Samuel (1 Sam. 25:1); David for Abner (2 Sam. 3:31, 35); Mary and Martha for Lazarus (John 11); devout men for Stephen (Acts 8:2), etc.

(2.) For calamities, Job (1:20, 21; 2:8); Israel (Ex. 33:4); the Ninevites (Jonah 3:5); Israel, when defeated by Benjamin (Judg. 20:26), etc.

(3.) Penitential mourning, by the Israelites on the day of atonement (Lev. 23:27; Acts 27:9); under Samuel's ministry (1 Sam. 7:6); predicted in Zechariah (Zech. 12:10, 11); in many of the psalms (51, etc.).

Mourning was expressed, (1) by weeping (Gen. 35:8, marg.; Luke 7:38, etc.); (2) by loud lamentation (Ruth 1:9; 1 Sam. 6:19; 2 Sam. 3:31); (3) by the disfigurement of the person, as rending the clothes (Gen. 37:29, 34; Matt. 26:65), wearing sackcloth (Gen. 37:34; Ps. 35:13), sprinkling dust or ashes on the person (2 Sam. 13:19; Jer. 6:26; Job 2:12), shaving the head and plucking out the hair of the head or beard (Lev. 10:6; Job 1:20), neglect of the person or the removal of ornaments (Ex. 33:4; Deut. 21:12, 13; 2 Sam. 14:2; 19:24; Matt. 6:16, 17), fasting (2 Sam. 1:12), covering the upper lip (Lev. 13:45; Micah 3:7), cutting the flesh (Jer. 16:6, 7), and sitting in silence (Judg. 20:26; 2 Sam. 12:16; 13:31; Job 1:20).

In the later times we find a class of mourners who could be hired to give by their loud lamentation the external tokens of sorrow (2 Chr. 35:25; Jer. 9:17; Matt. 9:23).

The period of mourning for the dead varied. For Jacob it was seventy days (Gen. 50:3); for Aaron (Num. 20:29) and Moses (Deut. 34:8) thirty days; and for Saul only seven days (1 Sam. 31:13). In 2 Sam. 3:31-35, we have a description of the great mourning for the death of Abner.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. Grieve, lament, be sorrowful. II. v. a. Deplore, lament, bewail, bemoan, grieve for, sorrow over.

Moby Thesaurus

ache, agonize, bemoan, bewail, bleed, brood over, deplore, dirge, discomfort, dismay, distress, elegize, fret, give sorrow words, grieve, grieve over, keen, knell, lament, moan, mope, pain, pine, pine away, regret, repine, rue, sigh, sing the blues, sorrow, take on, weep for, weep over