Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Tragedies"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Tragedy \Trag"e*dy\, n.; pl. {Tragedies}. [OE. tragedie, OF.
tragedie, F. trag['e]die, L. tragoedia, Gr. ?, fr. ? a tragic
poet and singer, originally, a goat singer; ? a goat (perhaps
akin to ? to gnaw, nibble, eat, and E. trout) + ? to sing;
from the oldest tragedies being exhibited when a goat was
sacrificed, or because a goat was the prize, or because the
actors were clothed in goatskins. See {Ode}.]
1. A dramatic poem, composed in elevated style, representing
a signal action performed by some person or persons, and
having a fatal issue; that species of drama which
represents the sad or terrible phases of character and
life.
Tragedy is to say a certain storie, As olde bookes
maken us memorie, Of him that stood in great
prosperitee And is yfallen out of high degree Into
misery and endeth wretchedly. --Chaucer.
All our tragedies are of kings and princes. --Jer.
Taylor.
tragedy is poetry in its deepest earnest; comedy is
poetry in unlimited jest. --Coleridge.
2. A fatal and mournful event; any event in which human lives
are lost by human violence, more especially by
unauthorized violence.
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