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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
dirge
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Do you think, Cbunt, that this doleful and crude dirge of Elvis's might soon be changed?
▪ Listen to the dirge of the dry leaves, that were green and vigorous but a few moons before!
▪ The needles splinter the wind into dirges and laments that tell of the long and tragic history of the trees.
▪ Their song, or their dirge, remained unsung, or at any rate unheard.
▪ There's too many metal and dirge infested undertones but they'd go down a storm supporting Silverfish.
▪ When a Hmong dies, his fellow clansmen beat out a dirge on ceremonial drums, announcing his departure for the afterworld.
▪ Yet the memoirs of these survivors, their dirge, is rarely inscribed in the chroniclers' sentimental journeys.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Dirge

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.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
dirge

early 13c., dirige (current contracted form is from c.1400), from Latin dirige "direct!" imperative of dirigere "to direct," probably from antiphon Dirige, Domine, Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam, "Direct, O Lord, my God, my way in thy sight," from Psalm v:9, which opened the Matins service in the Office of the Dead. Transferred sense of "any funeral song" is from c.1500.

Wiktionary
dirge

n. A mournful poem or piece of music composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person.

WordNet
dirge

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

Wikipedia
Dirge

A dirge is a somber song or lament expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral. The English word dirge is derived from the Latin Dirige, Domine, Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam ("Direct my way in your sight, O Lord my God"), the first words of the first antiphon in the Matins of the Office for the Dead, created on basis of (5:9 in Vulgate). The original meaning of dirge in English referred to this office.

A well known Christian funeral lament from the Cleveland area of north-east Yorkshire is known as the Lyke Wake Dirge and is well known from its association with the Lyke Wake Walk, a 40-mile challenge walk across the moorlands of north-east Yorkshire and as the members' anthem of the Lyke Wake Club, a society whose members are those who have completed the walk within 24 hours.

Dirge (Transformers)

Dirge is the name of several different fictional characters from the Transformers series. He was first introduced in 1985 as a villain in the Transformers series, appearing in the comic book by Marvel Comics and voiced by Bud Davis in the animated television series. Since then the name Dirge was also used by several other Transformers characters. In 2007 a limited edition Dirge toy was sold at the Transformers convention Botcon.

Dirge (novel)

Dirge (2000) is a science fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster. The full title is sometimes shown as Dirge: Book Two of The Founding of the Commonwealth.

Dirge (disambiguation)

A dirge is a somber song expressing mourning or grief.

Dirge may also refer to:

  • "Dirge" (Bob Dylan song), a 1974 song by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan
  • Dirge (album), an album by Singaporean band Wormrot
  • "Dirge", a song performed by the British band Death in Vegas
  • Dirge (novel), a 2000 science fiction novel by Alan Dean Foster
  • Dirge (Transformers), a character in the Transformers franchise
  • Dirge (band), a French post-metal band
  • " A Dirge", an 1824 poem composed Percy Bysshe Shelley
  • Dirge, a main character from Xombie
  • Roman Dirge (born 1972), American artist
Dirge (band)

Dirge is a French band formed in 1994. From the industrial metal genre that exploded in the first part of the 90s, the band slowly evolved toward a more atmospheric and progressive form of metal, related to post-metal bands such as Neurosis, Isis, and Cult of Luna.

Dirge (Bob Dylan song)

"Dirge" is a song by Bob Dylan. It was released on his 14th studio album Planet Waves in 1974. After recalling his band to re-record the track " Forever Young," Dylan recorded "Dirge" on just the second take. The song was labeled on the studio tape box as "Dirge for Martha." Notable for its acidic tone, "Dirge" has never been performed in concert.

Dirge (album)

Dirge is the second studio album by Singaporean grindcore band Wormrot. It was released on 3 May 2011 by Earache Records. The digital version of the album was released for free download in prior due to an online leak.

Usage examples of "dirge".

Tear at your hair, sing a dirge or two, take the rest of the week off.

I sighed beneath its wave to hide my woes, The rising tempest sung a funeral dirge, And on the blast a frightful yell arose.

He began chanting a dirge which lamented the death of Idman and sang of his deeds.

The solemn chanting moved Sandy deeply, despite the fact he knew almost nothing of the man the dirge commemorated or of the turbulent world he lived in.

In a low mournful voice he chanted an ancient funeral dirge of his people.

This, I am informed, is observed in some of the northern counties, particularly in Northumberland, and it has a pleasing, though melancholy effect to hear of a still evening in some lonely country scene the mournful melody of a funeral dirge swelling from a distance, and to see the train slowly moving along the landscape.

Thus, thus, and thus, we compass round Thy harmless and unhaunted ground, And as we sing thy dirge, we will, The daffodill And other flowers lay upon The altar of our love, thy stone.

The Harry James orchestra swinging to that death beat dirge as Smitty counted in his head the seconds before he would be beat and hacked at like sweet pine.

The story of the finding of the clothes that tell of the death at sea of the last but one of the five sons of Maurya, and of the death on the very shore itself of the last son, is in its very nature a dirge, and demands a slower movement than is possible with its incidents arranged as he was content to leave them in the play as we have it.

Synge, moreover, than any other of his plays, for it is written on one note, the note of the dirge, of the dirge of the tides that sound their menace of the sea through Inishmaan.

In one night the king died with his three sons, and the drums that thundered their dirge drowned the grim and ominous bells that rang from the carts that lumbered through the streets gathering up the rotting dead.

I passed like an endless procession, and their feet beat out a dirge in the sounding dust.

After a half hour they were alone except for perhaps a dozen onlookers and the families of the two thieves, who were praying and singing dirges at the feet of the condemned.

The little dirges of those rather incessant car horns bleating against man and God, found him humming quietly in his madness.

There are no glitzy showtunes written about this city, only a handful of rumpty-tumpty music hall dirges.