noun pl. elegies -·gies

1. any poem in elegiac verse
2. a poem or song of lament and praise for the dead, as Shelley's “Adonais”
3. any poem, song, etc. in a mournfully contemplative tone Gray's “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”

Etymology: Fr élégie < L elegia < Gr elegeia < elegos, a lament < ? IE base *el- > alms