a funeral song or tune, or one expressing mourning in commemoration of the dead.
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.
a mournful sound resembling a dirge: The autumn wind sang the dirge of summer.
the office of the dead, or the funeral service as sung.