See Also: Melancholy(medicine)
melancholy(1)(dictionary)
melancholy(2)(dictionary)
melancholy(dictionary)
melancholy 1, adjective(dictionary)
melancholy 2, noun(dictionary)

melancholy (iou)



melancholy noun. ME.
[Old & mod. French melancolie from late Latin melancholia from Greek melankholia, from melan-, melas black + khole bile: see -Y3.]
Medicine. Orig. (obsolete exc. Hist.), a pathological condition attributed to a supposed excess of choler adust, one of the cardinal humours, and distinguished esp. by sullenness, irascibility, and sadness. Later, (now rare) pathological depression, melancholia. ME.
H. Lyte The dissease called choler or melancholy. W. H. O. Sankey Cases of melancholy which are accompanied by great restlessness.
b. Hist. = choler adust s.v. CHOLER 2. LME.
Irascibility, anger, sullenness. LME-L16.
personified: Shakespeare King John If that surly spirit, melancholy, Hath bak'd thy blood.
Sadness, dejection, depression; esp. pensive or meditative sadness. Also, inclination or tendency to this. LME.
M. W. Montagu It gives me too much melancholy to see so agreeable a young creature buried alive. E. L. Doctorow Melancholy had taken the will out of her muscles. S. Hastings The autumnal countryside induced in her a pervasive feeling of melancholy.
b. An annoyance, a vexation. Now chiefly literary. L15.
H. James These melancholies haven't prevented the London season from roaring and elbowing along.
c. A state, episode, or mood of (pensive or meditative) sadness etc. L16.
Burke In spite of all my efforts, I fall into a melancholy which is inexpressible.