tragicaladj.n.

1533 T. More Answere Poysened Bk. iv. iv. f. cxcii^v Proueth hym selfe willyngly and wyttyngly in all his high tragycall exclamacyon agaynst his own conscience.

1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Mark xii. f. lxxviii What with their magnifike and hye titles, and what with their tragicall [L. tragico] and masking apparel, as though they had ben almost god almighties peeres.

1567 J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. ii. xiii. 258 He..woulde thinke these Tragical termes shoulde beare somme weight. For sober menne seldome vse thus to crie, without somme cause.

1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 55 I woulde haue tragicall and stately stile shunned.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) iii. i. 128 Why looke you still so sterne, and tragicall ? View more context for this quotation

1673 R. Allestree Ladies Calling ii. iii. §2 Those tragical furies wherewith some women seem transported.

1762 W. Weston New Dialogues Dead Pref. p. xi A certain lofty and tragical Tone, which Indignation, mingled with Grief, seemed naturally to require.

1825 London Mag. May 133 They talked about melancholy, glory, liberty, death, in the most pompous and tragical style.

1910 F. H. O'Donnell Hist. Irish Parl. Party I. iv. 101 He was lofty, he was tragical, he was expostulatory.

1559 W. Bavand tr. J. Ferrarius Common Weale v. viii. f. 103 Clitemnestra for the loue of Aegistus, killed her housebande Agamemnone..(as the tragicall Poetes doe write).

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie i. xi. 20 They set forth the dolefull falles of infortunate & afflicted Princes, & were called Poets Tragicall.

1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream v. i. 57 A tedious briefe Scene of young Pyramus And his loue Thisby; very tragicall mirth. View more context for this quotation

1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream v. i. 66 A Play there is, my Lord,..And tragicall..it is. For Pyramus, Therein, doth kill himselfe. View more context for this quotation

1629 J. Wadsworth Eng. Spanish Pilgrime v. 47 They made a Tragicall-Comedy of our voyage, whereby they got much money and honour.

1731 H. Fielding Tragedy of Tragedies 11 This Speech hath been taken to pieces by several Tragical Authors.

1827 London Lit. Gaz. 20 Oct. 685/2 The Gambler's Fate, a tragical drama, has been produced, and executed every night.

1909 Chatterbox 146/1 The play was of a tragical character.

1998 Mnemosyne 51 379 Seneca's..relative independence of Greek and Roman tragical poets.

1567 T. Drant tr. Horace Arte of Poetrie sig. A.iij^v Sumtymes the commodye lookes vp and liftes her voyce with all... The tragicall doth sumtymes talke as meanelye as one can.

1846 A. J. W. Morrison tr. H. Ulrici Shakspeare's Dramatic Art v. 508 In Calderon the tragical is not so markedly distinguished from the comic, his language consequently in both is very similar.

1874 H. James in N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 344 A picture which, in spite of its dealing with small things in a small style, carries us to the uttermost limits of the tragical.

1930 M. T. Herrick Poetics of Aristotle in Eng. ii. 47 The observation of the ancient Law of Tragedy.., would not rather, by reviving the pristine glory of the Tragical, advance than diminish the present.

2011 M. Bishop Contemp. French Art 2 187 A certain humour..offsetting what may be sensed to be an implicit sense of the tragical.

1572 V. Browne Let. to Ld. Burghley 22 Sept. in State Papers Scotl.: Border Papers: Elizabeth I P.R.O.: SP 59/18 f. 158 Vppon the aduertisementt of the tragicalles out of Fraunce, I thought it my duttie to make some spedie supplie for the place of my chardge more then myn Ordenarye dothe limytte.

1606 G. W. tr. Justinus Hist. xix. 75 Hauing heard the Tragicall of what was become of them..they redoubled their griefes.

1621 R. Brathwait Natures Embassie 119 Terpnus..did..Sing on his Lute these wofull tragicalls.