A song of lamentation; a dirge, threnody; formerly spec. (in plural) the Lamentations of Jeremiah (Septuagint θρῆνοι Ἰερεμίου, Vulgate Threni).

A song or poem of lamentation, esp. for the dead; a memorial poem. Also as a mass noun.

A mournful or plaintive melody or song; also, by extension, a tune in general; sometimes apparently used for a kind of dance. Obsolete.

spec. A funeral song or lamentation in the Highlands of Scotland and in Ireland; a dirge.

transferred. A song sung at the burial of, or in commemoration of, the dead; a song of mourning or lament. Also figurative.

Chiefly poetic. Any dirge, solemn chant, prayer, etc., for the repose of the soul of a dead person. Now rare.

= threne, n., threnody, n.

A medieval song or poem of lament. Cf. planh, n.

A song or poem commemorating a person who has died; a song sung immediately before the death of oneself or another.

A lyric ode sung by a single voice; an ode sung by one of the actors in a Greek tragedy (as distinct from the chorus); a mournful song or dirge…

A song of lamentation; spec. a lament for the dead, a dirge.

loosely. An elegy or dirge. Obsolete.

A set or conventional form of mourning; a song of grief, an elegy; esp. a dirge performed at a death or burial; also, the air to which such a…

Esp. in Greece or among Greek-speaking people: an extempore lament or funeral song, usually sung by a woman. Cf. myrology, n.

An Irish funeral song accompanied with wailing in lamentation for the dead.

An Old Occitan lament for the death of a person, esp. a mistress or protector. Cf. planctus, n.

= threnody, n.

Esp. in Greece or among Greek-speaking people: an extempore lament or funeral song, usually sung by a woman; a myriologue. Also: the action or…

a mournful folk song or spiritual, esp. one originating among African Americans in the southern United States.

An elegiac or mourning song; in Italian opera, a tragic aria, esp. one preceding the climax.