Mourn 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. Gen 23. Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted. Mat 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.
mourn verbEtymology: Middle English, from Old English murnan; akin to
Old High German mornēn to mourn, Greek mermēra care — more
at memoryDate: before 12th century intransitive verb1. 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 verb1. to feel or express grief or sorrow
for 2. to utter mournfully
• mournernoun • mourninglyadverb
mourn 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
mourn
(mourns, mourning, mourned)
1. If you mourn someone who has died or mournfor 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 mournfor 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 alsomourning
mourn
mɔ:n 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. [OE murnan]
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.
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.
Mourn
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.
mourn
mɔ:n v. grieve (over), lament, sorrow (over), bemoan, bewail, keen, weep for or over,
regret, rue, deplore: We all mourned the loss of a great leader. After his death, the nation
mourned for a month.
33 Moby Thesaurus words for "mourn":
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
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