Category:Mourn

Mourn, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Mourned; p. pr. & vb. n. Mourning.] Etym: [AS. murnan; akin to OS. mornian, OHG. mornen, Goth. maúrnan.]

1. To express or to feel grief or sorrow; to grieve; to be sorrowful; to lament; to be in a state of grief or sadness. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. Gen. xxiii. 2.

2. To wear the customary garb of a mourner. We mourn in black; why mourn we not in blood Shak. Grieve for an hour, perhaps, then mourn a year. Pope.

mourn Mourn, v. t.

1. To grieve for; to lament; to deplore; to bemoan; to bewail. As if he mourned his rival's ill success. Addison. And looking over the hills, I mourn The darling who shall not return. Emerson.

2. To utter in a mournful manner or voice. The lovelorn nightingale Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well. Milton.

Syn. -- See Deplore.

-

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Mourn - Frequent references are found in Scripture to, (1.) Mourning for the dead. Abraham mourned for Sarah (Genesis 23:2); Jacob for Joseph (Genesis 37:34, Genesis 37:35); the Egyptians for Jacob (Genesis 50:3); Israel for Aaron (Numbers 20:29), for Moses (Deuteronomy 34:8), and for Samuel (1 Samuel 25:1); David for Abner (2 Samuel 3:31, 2 Samuel 3:35); Mary and Martha for Lazarus (John 11); devout men for Stephen (Acts 8:2), etc. (2.) For calamities, Job (Job 1:20, Job 1:21; Job 2:8); Israel (Exodus 33:4); the Ninevites (Jonah 3:5); Israel, when defeated by Benjamin (Judges 20:26), etc. (3.) Penitential mourning, by the Israelites on the day of atonement (Leviticus 23:27; Acts 27:9); under Samuel's ministry (1 Samuel 7:6); predicted in Zechariah (Zechariah 12:10, Zechariah 12:11); in many of the psalms (Ps. 51, etc.). Mourning was expressed, (1.) by weeping (Genesis 35:8, marg.; Luke 7:38, etc.); (2.) by loud lamentation (Ruth 1:9; 1 Samuel 6:19; 2 Samuel 3:31); (3.) by the disfigurement of the person, as rending the clothes (Genesis 37:29, Genesis 37:34; Matthew 26:65), wearing sackcloth (Genesis 37:34; Psalms 35:13), sprinkling dust or ashes on the person (2 Samuel 13:19; Jeremiah 6:26; Job 2:12), shaving the head and plucking out the hair of the head or beard (Leviticus 10:6; Job 1:20), neglect of the person or the removal of ornaments (Exodus 33:4; Deuteronomy 21:12, Deuteronomy 21:13; 2 Samuel 14:2; 2 Samuel 19:24; Matthew 6:16, Matthew 6:17), fasting (2 Samuel 1:12), covering the upper lip (Leviticus 13:45; Micah 3:7), cutting the flesh (Jeremiah 16:6, Jeremiah 16:7), and sitting in silence (Judges 20:26; 2 Samuel 12:16; 2 Samuel 13:31; Job 1:20). In the later times we find a class of mourners who could be hired to give by their loud lamentation the external tokens of sorrow (2 Chronicles 35:25; Jeremiah 9:17; Matthew 9:23). The period of mourning for the dead varied. For Jacob it was seventy days (Genesis 50:3); for Aaron (Numbers 20:29) and Moses (Deuteronomy 34:8) thirty days; and for Saul only seven days (1 Samuel 31:13). In 2 Samuel 3:31, we have a description of the great mourning for the death of Abner.