elegiac

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA: /ˌɛləˈdʒaɪˌæk/ or IPA: /ˌɛləˈdʒaɪək/

Adjective

elegiac (comparative more elegiac, superlative most elegiac)

1. Of, or relating to an elegy.

   the elegiac distich or couplet, consisting of a dactylic hexameter and pentameter

2. Expressing sorrow or mourning.
   • Elizabeth Browning

     Elegiac griefs, and songs of love.

Quotations

• 1808, Sir Walter Scott, Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field, "Canto the Third: Introduction":

  Hast thou no elegiac verse

  For Brunswick's venerable hearse?

Noun

elegiac (plural elegiacs)

1. A poem composed in the couplet style of classical elegies: a line of dactylic hexameter followed by a line of dactylic pentameter
   • 1748, John Upton, Critical Observations on Shakespeare^[1], edition 2nd ed., page 385:

     His saphics are worse, if possible, than his elegiacs