adj. & n.
adj. 1 (of a metre) used for elegies. 2 mournful.
n. (in pl.) verses in an elegiac metre. elegiac couplet a pair of lines consisting of a dactylic hexameter and a pentameter, esp. in Greek and Latin verse. elegiacally adv.
[ F élégiaque or f. LL elegiacus f. Gk elegeiakos: see ELEGY ]