/derrj/ , n.
1. a funeral song or tune, or one expressing mourning in commemoration of the dead.
2. any composition resembling such a song or tune in character, as a poem of lament for the dead or solemn, mournful music: Tennyson's dirge for the Duke of Wellington.
3. a mournful sound resembling a dirge: The autumn wind sang the dirge of summer.
4. Eccles. the office of the dead, or the funeral service as sung.
[ 1175-1225; ME dir ( i ) ge dirigere ), first word of the antiphon sung in the Latin office of the dead (Psalm V, 8) ]