exequy

English

Etymology

A back-formation from exequies, from Middle English exequies, from Old French exequies, from Latin exsequiās, accusative of exsequiae (“train of followers”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛksɪkwi/

Noun

exequy (plural exequies)

1. (obsolete, now only in plural) Funeral rites.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     But yet, before we go, let’s not forget
     The noble Duke of Bedford late deceased,
     But see his exequies fulfill’d in Rouen:

   • 1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [R. Robinson] for William Iones […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     EDWARD. Whether goes my Lord of Couentrie so fast?
     BISHOP. To celebrate your fathers exequies,

   • 1609, Douay–Rheims Bible, Old Testament, volume I (1635 reprint), “The Second Book of Samuel, which we cal the Second of Kings.”, chapter i, marginal note b, page 573:

     Exequies of Saul obſerued with mourning weeping and faſting.

   • 1658, Thomas Browne, “Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall. […]. Chapter I”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 1:

     More ſerious conjectures finde ſome examples of ſepulture in Elephants, Cranes, the Sepulchrall Cells of Piſmires and practice of Bees; which civill ſociety carrieth out their dead, and hath exequies, if not interrments.

   • 2000, Kate Atkinson, Emotionally Weird, Black Swan (2001), page 191:

     We were accelerating along the Perth Road at a speed much faster than is normally associated with exequies.

Alternative forms

• exsequy