▪ I. mourning, vbl. n.1
(ˈmɔənɪŋ)
[f. mourn v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of mourn v.1; feeling or expression of sorrow; sorrowing, lamentation. Also with a or in pl.
a 1225 Ancr. R. 342 Heui murnunge. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3205 For swinc and murning hem was on. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xvi. 54 For hire love mournyng y make more then eny mon. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3797 Whar-for was mad þat gret mornyng Amonges þe Sarazyns olde & ȝyng, As hy þar herden alle. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 520 Ywis lemman I haue swich loue longynge That lik a turtel trewe is my moornynge. c 1440 Jacob's Well xviii. 125 In þis mournyng, an aungyl com to hym. 1535 Coverdale Ps. ci[i]. 20 He maye heare the mournynges of soch as be in captiuyte. a 1631 Donne Lam. Jeremy iii. 19 But when my mourning I do thinke upon My wormwood, hemlocke and affliction; My Soule is humbled in remembring this. a 1716 South Serm. (1744) VII. vi. 129 Neither mourning for sin, or confession of it, avail any thing but a new creature. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. I. ii. 545 With mourning sore Toward the king's palace did they take their way. |
2. spec. The feeling or the expression of sorrow for the death of a person; also, an expression of grief, a lament. Phrase,
† to make mourning.
c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 51/172 Heo bi-lefte, þo it was non oþur in gret deol and mournyng. a 1300 Cursor M. 14239 At þat castel his frendes bade, And for þair frend gret murning made. c 1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) xxxvii, Sir Amadace wasse in mournyng broȝte. 1509 Fisher Funeral Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 301 Thes sorrowfull cryes of her thy seruaunte with the other lamentable mornynges of her frendes & seruauntes. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xxiv. (Arb.) 63 Poeticall mournings in verse. a 1644 Quarles Sol. Recant. ch. vii. iv, The wise mans sober heart is always turning His wary footsteps to the house of mourning. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxviii, The Highlanders..are wont to mingle a degree of solemn mirth with their mourning. 1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington 4 Let us bury the Great Duke To the noise of the mourning of a mighty nation. |
3. a. The conventional or ceremonial manifestation of sorrow for the death of a person;
esp. the wearing of black garments. Also, the period during which such garments are worn.
c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 920/1 Mournyng, deul. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 228 The kynge ware whyte for mournyng. 1641 Shirley Cardinal i. (1652) 1 How does her Grace since she left her mourning For the young Duke Mendoza, whose timeless death At Sea, left her a Virgin and a Widdow? 1683 Penn Lett. conc. Pennsylv. 6 Their Mourning is blacking of their faces, which they continue for a year. a 1854 H. Reed Lect. Brit. Poets viii. (1857) 281 Those who, after a long mourning, resume their ordinary dresses. 1868 Marriott Vest. Chr. p. xvii, Thus, where the hair is ordinarily worn short it is a sign of mourning to let it grow long. |
b. An instance of this; a ceremonial manifestation of grief for the death of a person. Now
rare.
1611 Bible Gen. l. 10 And he made a mourning for his father seuen dayes. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., In public Mournings at Rome the shops were shut up, the women laid aside all their ornaments [etc.]. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. 1. x. ii. (1869) I. 149 Except in the case of a general mourning. 1803–6 Wordsw. Ode Intim. Immort. 95 A wedding or a festival, A mourning or a funeral. |
4. a. The dress or customary garment (now usually black) worn by mourners. Also
occas. applied to the black draperies placed on furniture or the walls of buildings, etc., on occasions of mourning.
deep mourning,
half mourning,
second mourning: see those words.
† close mourning: mourning such as is worn by the nearest relatives;
= deep mourning.
1654–66 Earl of Orrery Parthen. (1676) 606 All..should for the revolution of twelve Moons wear close Mourning. 1661 Pepys Diary 23 July, Put on my mourning. 1663 Wood Life July (O.H.S.) I. 479 Three tressels theron, covered with mourning. 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. iii. 942 They..through the Master-Street the Corps convey'd. The Houses to their Tops with Black were spread, And ev'n the Pavements were with Mourning hid. 1708 Swift Bickerstaff Detected Wks. 1751 IV. 207 The Stair-case, I believe, and these two apartments hung in close Mourning will be sufficient. 1752 Johnson Let. to Taylor 18 Mar. in Boswell, Pray desire Mrs. Taylor to inform me what mourning I should buy for my mother and Miss Porter. 1833 H. Martineau Loom & Lugger ii. iii. 43 They had at first offered to make up her mourning for her. |
b. pl. in the same sense. Now
Sc. and
north.1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. I) 97 If we hold all the men in the world to be of our affinity, let us make account to weare mournings all our life. 1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Wars i. 9 Putting on mournings, [he] commanded an adjournment of the Courts of Justice. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie ii, To the total wreck and destruction of all the unfinished bravery of mournings which lay scattered around. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 662 A widow has a legal claim to mournings for her husband. a 1842 A. Cunningham Burns & Byron, They came into the street in their mournings. |
c. Phr.
in mourning (as adjectival phrase): wearing the garments indicative of grief. Also
Naut. (see
quot. 1867). So
to go or put into mourning;
to be out of mourning, etc.
a 1656 Hales Gold. Rem. iii. Serm., etc. (1673) 21 Demades the Oratour was wont to say of the Athenians, that they never came to consult of peace, nisi atrati, but in blacks and mourning. 1683 Wood Life 23 Aug. (O.H.S.) III. 66 An hears..followed by 5 coaches in morning. 1711 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 25 Dec., Her brother would fain have her death a secret, to save the charge of bringing her up here to bury her, or going into mourning. 1778 F. Burney Evelina xiv, She was already out of mourning. 1821 Byron Juan iii. vii, Sad thought! to lose the spouse that was adorning Our days, and put one's servants into mourning. 1860 C. M. Yonge Stokesley Secret iii, There were two ladies, one in stately handsome slight mourning. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., A ship is in mourning with her ensign and pennant half-mast, her yards topped awry, or apeek, or alternately topped an-end. If the sides are painted blue instead of white, it denotes deep mourning. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 310 Seeing the wife of the priest..in mourning. |
d. slang or
jocular.
to be in mourning: said of the eyes when blackened by fighting. Also of the finger-nails when allowed to become dirty.
1814 Sporting Mag. XLIII. 70 Bolter..had his eyes in mourning. 1867 O. W. Holmes Guardian Angel x, His eyes were ‘in mourning’, as the gentlemen of the ring say. 1890 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang (1897), Mourning (common), a full suit of mourning, two black eyes; half-mourning, one black eye. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
mourning apparel,
mourning armlet,
mourning attire,
mourning badge,
mourning bonnet,
mourning card,
mourning clothes,
mourning coat,
mourning colour,
mourning-dress,
mourning duty,
mourning garment,
mourning gown,
mourning habit,
mourning handkerchief,
mourning hat,
† mourning head,
† mourning hood,
mourning house,
mourning livery,
mourning millinery,
mourning note-paper,
mourning picture,
mourning song,
mourning tie,
mourning time,
mourning veil,
mourning weeds, etc.; also
mourning-band, (
a) see
quot. c 1618; (
b) a strip of black cloth or crape worn round the sleeve of a coat or round a hat in token of bereavement; (
c)
slang, a dirty or black edge to a finger-nail;
mourning border, a black border on note-paper, envelopes, etc., used by persons who are ‘in mourning’; hence
mourning-bordered adj.;
mourning-brooch, a brooch of jet or other black material, worn by women when mourning;
† mourning carriage, in
quot. a carriage for conveying a corpse;
† mourning chariot = mourning coach;
mourning cloak,
† (
a) a cloak formerly worn by persons following a funeral, usually hired from the undertaker; (
b) a butterfly, the Camberwell beauty,
Vanessa antiopa;
mourning coach, (
a) a coach of black colour formerly used by a person during the whole period of his mourning; (
b) a closed carriage, usually black, used to convey mourners on the occasion of a funeral;
† mourning coffin,
hearse (
app. = ‘coffin’, ‘hearse’, simply; possibly, however, one of a black colour or with black draperies);
mourning envelope, a mourning-bordered envelope;
† mourning horse, the horse belonging to a deceased person, led riderless and draped with black in the funeral procession;
mourning iris,
Iris susiana (see
quots.);
mourning jewellery, jewellery decorated with miniature funereal ornaments or pictures;
mourning-paper, note-paper with a black edge;
mourning-piece U.S., a pictorial representation of a tomb, etc., intended as a memorial of the dead;
mourning-pin, a black pin for use with mourning-attire (Worcester 1860);
mourning-ring, a ring worn as a memorial of a deceased person;
mourning shirt, (
a) see
quot. 1650; (
b)
slang, a flannel shirt, as it does not require washing so often as others;
† mourning-staff, a black pole carried in a funeral procession;
mourning-stuff, ‘a lusterless black textile material, such as crape, cashmere, or merino, regarded as especially fitted for mourning-garments’ (
Cent. Dict.);
mourning-vein, a vein of mourning granite;
mourning warehouse, a warehouse selling mourning clothes, etc. (
cf. warehouse n. 1 e).
1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Lugeo, Lugubris ornatus. Cic[ero] *Mournyng apparell. 1611 Bible 2 Sam. xiv. 2. |
1966 Olney Amsden & Sons Ltd. Price List 29 *Mourning armlets. |
1503–4 Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 14 §11 Any lyvere..giffyn by any executoures at the interement of any person for any *mornyng array. |
1611 Cotgr., Dueil, dole, griefe,..also, mourning weeds, or *mourning attire; as, Il porte le dueil. |
1968 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 8 Oct. (1970) 718 A *mourning badge worn after Lincoln's assassination. |
c 1618 Moryson Itin. iv. (1903) 334 The other men that followe the Herse haue..hattbandes of black Sipres hanging downe behynde, Called Trawerbandes that is *mourning bandes. c 1874 D. Boucicault in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1969) II. 211, I was wrong to come here at all. I feel like a mourning band on a white hat. 1884 St. James's Gaz. 5 Dec. 6/1 The ‘mourning-bands’ on the finger-nails are faithfully recorded. 1966 J. Potts Footsteps on Stairs (1967) ii. 19 Enid kept her loneliness hidden, while Martin's was there for all the world to see; he wore it like a mourning band. |
1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 302/2 Ladies' *Mourning Bonnet..a very handsome Bonnet and Mourning Veil. |
1899 Westm. Gaz. 16 Nov. 2/3 *Mourning-bordered envelopes. |
1804 M. Wilmot Let. 2 Jan. in Russ. Jrnls. (1934) 72 A *Mourning Card was presented to the Princess. 1939–40 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 301 Mourning note papers, cards,..and envelopes. |
1710 M. Henry Life Lieut. Illidge Wks. 1853 II. 585/1 His corpse was carried on a *mourning carriage to Witembury. |
1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3945/4 At Mr. Harrison's, Coach-Maker,..is a Mourning Coach and Harness,..also a *Mourning Charriot. |
1610–11 in Halliwell Anc. Invent. (1854) 66 Item, one *mourning cloak. 1898 W. J. Holland Butterfly Bk. (1902) 169 Vanessa antiopa... (The Mourning-cloak; The Camberwell Beauty.) |
1535 Coverdale Baruch v. 1 Put of thy *mournynge clothes (o Ierusalem). |
1690 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 148 The 23rd, sir John Jonston, condemned for stealing Mrs. Wharton, went up in a *mourning coach to Tyburn, and was executed for the same. 1714 A. Smith Lives Highwaymen II. 18 He was..carry'd into a mourning Coach, and so convey'd to the Tangier-Tavern. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge ix, I wish I may..never be buried decent with a mourning-coach and feathers. |
1586 L. Bryskett Past. Aegl. Death Sidney 28 Hath not the aire put on his *mourning coat, And testified his grief with flowing teares? |
1683 Condemn. & Exec. A. Sydney 2 They put it [the body] into a *Mourning-Coffin..and conveyed it thence, in order to its Interment. |
1564 W. Bullein Dial. agst. Pest. Ded. (1888) 1 My Chamber..hanged al in one *mournyng darcke colour. 1885 Dillon Fairholt's Costume in Eng. II. Gloss. 290 Black appears to have been the mourning colour generally worn in England. |
1840 Knickerbocker XVI. 70 A conclusive proof that the *mourning-dress is an empty ordinance of Fashion. 1843 Dickens Christmas Carol ii. 65 A fair young girl in a mourning-dress. a 1922 L. Luck in J. Burnett Useful Toil (1974) i. 72, I had my new mourning dress torn from my back, through trying to part them when fighting. |
1602 Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 88 'Tis sweet and commendable In your Nature Hamlet, To giue these *mourning duties to your Father. |
1862 *Mourning envelope [see note-paper]. 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 332/1 Mourning envelopes. 1939–40 Mourning envelope [see mourning card above]. |
1530 Palsgr. 246/2 *Mournyng garment, habit de dveil. 1535 Coverdale 2 Sam. xiv. 2. |
1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. i. 161 Wrap our bodies in blacke *mourning Gownes. |
c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 4 Þei maken hem self in siȝte of peple more holi þan oþere men and bosten þereof in owtward signes or wordes, as *mornynge abite, lettris of fraternite. |
1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 226/3 *Mourning Handkerchiefs{ddd}with neat fast black hem-stitched borders. 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 819/2 Mourning Handkerchiefs. With black border. |
1896 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Spring & Summer 46/3 Telegraph orders for *Mourning Hats continue to be received. 1899 in A. Adburgham Shops & Shopping (1964) xxii. 261 Mourning hat bands. |
1736 Ainsworth Lat. Dict., A *mourning hat-band, Torulus atratus. |
1530 Palsgr. 253/1 Peake of a ladyes *mournyng heed, biquoquet. |
1641 Evelyn Diary 2 Jan., We at night followed the *mourning hearse to the Church at Wotton. |
c 1495 Epitaffe, etc. in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 391 Of with your rich caperons, put on your *mourning hodes. 1736 Ainsworth Lat. Dict., A mourning hood, Epomis atrata. |
1695 Lond. Gaz. No. 3059/1 Then followed the *Mourning Horse, led by the Lord Viscount Villers, Master of the Horse to Her late Majesty, attended by two Equerries. |
1402 Repl. Friar Daw Topias in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 76 To make sich housynge to men that ben deede, to whiche longith but graves and *mornynge housis. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 818, I will..shut My wofull selfe vp in a mourning house, Raining the teares of lamentation, For the remembrance of my Fathers death. |
1883 W. Robinson Eng. Flower Garden 158/1 I[ris] susiana (*Mourning I[ris])... The flowers, which are produced in early summer, are very large and densely spotted and striped with dark purple on a grey ground. 1966 M. Price Iris Bk. vii. 78 The celebrated silver and black mourning iris..is easiest. |
1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 179 Real onyx and jet *mourning jewelry. 1960 H. Hayward Antique Coll. 192/1 Mourning jewellery became particularly fashionable in the second half of the 18th cent... Earlier mourning jewellery of the 16th and 17th cent..was of a more gloomy kind. |
1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 26 Two footmen in *mourning-liveries. |
1896 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Spring & Summer 46/3 *Mourning Millinery. |
1862 *Mourning note-paper [see note-paper]. 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 332/1 Mourning note paper. |
1800 M. Edgeworth Belinda (1832) II. xxv. 155 The letter was copied upon a sheet of *mourning paper. |
1947 T. H. White Elephant & Kangaroo (1948) xxi. 170 Two *mourning pictures of her father and mother. 1972 Village Voice (N.Y.) 1 June 3/4 Crewel work and other kinds of embroidery, mourning pictures, theorems, and stencil work. |
1843 Knickerbocker XXII. 189 The parlor..was ornamented..among the rest, [with] the indispensable family *mourning-piece. 1889 M. C. Lee Quaker Girl of Nantucket iii. 48 There ain't a house on the island, I expect, but what's got a mourning piece hangin' up in the front room. 1967 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 12 Nov. (1970) 588 On the walls are samplers and ‘mourning pieces’ and quaint American primitive portraits. 1970 New Yorker 28 Nov. 158/2 The picture is one of the earliest examples of the mourning piece—a folk genre that originated at the time of Wash.'s death. |
1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 162/2 *Mourning pins may be made of brass,..varnishing being substituted for tinning. |
1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3897/4, 3 other *Mourning Rings, with W.C. ob. 18 Dec. 1702. 1852 Miss Mulock Agatha's Husb. xii. (1875) 306 The large diamond mourning ring which the widower always wore, ‘In memory of Catherine Harper’. |
1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. I) 105 Your *Mourning-robes. |
1650 Fuller Pisgah iv. vi. 98 As we say *mourning shirts, it being customary for men in sadness, to spare the pains of their laundresses. |
1736 Ainsworth Lat. Dict., A *mourning song, Nenia, carmen lugubre, threnodia. |
c 1730 Savage Author to be let Publ. Pref., Had it not been more laudable in Mr. Roome, the son of an undertaker, to have borne a link and a *mourning-staff in the long procession of a funeral, than [etc.]. |
1881 M. Arnold Westminster Abbey x, The *mourning-stole no more Mantled her form. |
1703 Burgh Rec. Stirling (1889) 99 Four *mourning strings..which they are to wear above their belts that day upon account of the funerals of the deceast John Stivensone, provost. |
1662 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. verse 18. i. xliv. §1 (1669) 401/2 Gaudy rich cloaths on a fast-day do no better, than a light trimming on a *mourning suit. 1819 Byron Juan ii. cxxxix, And night is flung off like a mourning suit Worn for a husband,—or some other brute. |
1970 B. Knox Children of Mist vii. 155 A black *mourning tie knotted neatly at his shirt collar. |
c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 6926 Ther ys..woman noon so stedefast That, whan *Mowrenyng tyme is past, she may of mercy and pite save and kepe hir honeste, And forsake hir clothes blake And chesen hir a nywe make. |
1821 Shelley Adonais xli, Thou Air, Which like a *mourning veil thy scarf hadst thrown O'er the abandoned Earth. 1897 Mourning veil [see mourning bonnet above]. |
1872 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. I. 662 The other layers most desirable and most valuable are the dark and light *mourning veins. |
c 1860 in A. Adburgham Shops & Shopping (1964) vi. 65 The London General *Mourning Ware⁓house. 1885 List of Subscribers, Classified (United Telephone Co.) (ed. 6) 157 Mourning Warehouses. |
1572 Lament. Lady Scotl. 6 in Satir. Poems Reform. xxxiii, With ȝour *murning weid absconse my face. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 70 Haile Rome: Victorious in thy Mourning Weedes. |
▪ II. † ˈmourning, vbl. n.2 Obs. [f. mourn v.2 + -ing1.] mourning of the chine: The disease of glanders.
Cf. mortechien.
1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §87 Mournynge on the chyne..appereth at his nosethryll lyke oke-water. Ibid. §119 The frenche-man saythe, Mort de langue et de eschine Sount maladyes saunce medicine. The mournynge of the tongue, and of the chyne, are diseases without remedy or medicyne. 1598 Florio, Ciamorro, a disease in horses called the mourning of the chine, issuing at the nosthrils. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 371 This word mourning of the Chine, is a corrupt name borrowed of the French toong, wherein it is cald mote [1658 Morte] deschien, that is to say the death of the backe. Because many do hold this opinion that this disease doth consume the marrow of the backe. 1611 Cotgr., Mourne, the Mumpes; and (in a horse, &c.) the mourning of the Chyne. 1735 Burdon Pocket Farriery 74 The Mourning of the Chine is downright Poverty of Flesh and Blood. |
▪ III. ˈmourning, ppl. a. [f. mourn v.1 + -ing2.] 1. That mourns; sorrowing, lamenting; characterized by or expressive of grief.
Beowulf 50 Him wæs ᵹeomor sefa, murnende mod. a 1300 Cursor M. 4963 He mened him þus, wit murnand cher. 1382 Wyclif Ezek. xxiv. 17 Nether thou shalt ete meet of mournynge men. c 1550 Knt. Curtesy 59 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 69 Alas! he sayd, with murnynge eyen, Now is my herte in wo and payne. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 36 When mourning altars, purg'd with enemies life, The black infernall furies doen aslake. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman D'Alf. i. 134, I put on a mourning-face, looke sad [etc.]. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 436/1 Præficæ, or mourning women,..went about the streets. 1815 Shelley Alastor 55 No mourning maiden decked With weeping flowers. |
2. transf. Bruised.
Cf. mourning vbl. n.1 4 d.
1708 S. Centlivre Busy Body i. i, On condition you'll give us a true account how you came by that mourning nose. |
3. mourning bride, a popular name for the sweet scabious,
Scabiosa atropurpurea;
mourning dove,
N. Amer., a blue-grey pigeon,
Zenaidura macroura carolinensis, distinguished by its plaintive call;
mourning warbler, an American warbler,
Geothlypis philadelphia;
mourning widow, (
a) a European geranium with petals of a dusky colour,
Geranium phæum; (
b)
= mourning bride (
Cent. Dict. 1890);
mourning willow, the weeping willow.
1846–50 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 310 Scabiosa atropurpurea, *Mourning Bride. |
1839 Peabody in Boston Jrnl. Nat. Hist. (1841) III. 192 The Carolina Turtle Dove..is called [in western Massachusetts] the *Mourning Dove. 1841 G. Catlin Lett. on N. Amer. Indians I. 158 The mourning or turtle-dove..is not to be destroyed or harmed by anyone. 1880 J. M. Farrar Five Yrs. Minnesota 166 Mourning-doves fill every wood with their plaintive notes. 1929 M. de la Roche Whiteoaks xvi. 203 High in the pines she heard the plaintive notes of a mourning dove. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 41/2 Once again Ontario gunners are asking for an open season on mourning doves and once again considerations of sentimentality..will almost certainly defeat them. 1975 A. Dillard Pilgrim at Tinker Creek ii. 33, I saw the backyard cedar where the mourning doves roost. |
1808–13 A. Wilson Amer. Ornith. (1831) II. 140 Sylvia Philadelphia, Wilson.—*Mourning warbler. |
1866 Treas. Bot., *Mourning widow. Geranium phæum. |
1813 H. Muhlenberg Catal. Plantarum Americæ Septentrionalis 91 *Mourning Willow. |