• (British) enPR: dûj, IPA: /dɜːdʒ/
• (America) enPR: dûrj, IPA: /dɝdʒ/

dirge (plural dirges)

1. A mournful poem or piece of music composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person.
   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ii], lines 8–14, page 153 ↗, column 2:

     Therefore our sometimes#Adjective|ſometimes Siſter, now our Queen, / Th’ imperiall jointress#English|Ioyntreſſe of this warlike State, / Haue we, as ’twere, with a defeated ioy, / With one auspicious#English|Auſpicious, and one Dropping eye, / With mirth in Funerall, and with Dirge in Marriage, / In equall Scale weighing Delight and dole#Etymology_2|Dole / Taken to Wife {{...}

2. (informal) A song or piece of music that is considered too slow, bland or boring.

• lament, requiem, coronach, threnody, elegy

• dirgeful

• French: chant funèbre
• German: Klagelied, Trauersang, Grabsang
• Italian: nenia, lamentazione, lagna
• Portuguese: elegia, nénia (Portugal), nênia (Brazil)
• Russian: погребальный
• Spanish: canto fúnebre

dirge (dirges, present participle dirging; past and past participle dirged)

1. To sing dirges