DIRGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dirge mean? 

• DIRGE (noun)
  The noun DIRGE has 1 sense:

1. a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person

  Familiarity information: DIRGE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DIRGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

coronach; dirge; lament; requiem; threnody

Hypernyms ("dirge" is a kind of...):

song; vocal (a short musical composition with words)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dirge"):

keen (a funeral lament sung with loud wailing)

 Context examples 

This noble war in the sky elevated my spirits; I clasped my hands, and exclaimed aloud, “William, dear angel! this is thy funeral, this thy dirge!”

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

When eleven struck, the measured beat of the great church clock seemed to sound the dirge of our hopes.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As they came up to them, Alleyne could hear the doleful dirge which the beater was chanting, bringing down his heavy whip at the end of each line, while the groans of the sufferer formed a sort of dismal chorus.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)