melancholy (redirected from melancholic)

melancholy

Archaic

a. a gloomy character, thought to be caused by too much black bile

b. one of the four bodily humours; black bile

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Melancholy

See also Grief.

Acheron

river of woe in the underworld. [Gk. Myth.: Howe, 5]

Anatomy of Melancholy

lists causes, symptoms, and characteristics of melancholy. [Br. Lit.: Anatomy of Melancholy]

Barton, Amos

beset by woes. [Br. Lit.: “Sad Fortunes of Amos Barton” in Walsh Modern, 45]

black bile

humor effecting temperament of gloominess. [Medieval Physiology: Hall, 130]

blues

melancholy, bittersweet music born among American Negroes. [Am. Music: Scholes, 113]

Cargill, Rev. Josiah

serious, moody, melancholic minister. [Br. Lit.: St. Ronan’s Well]

Carstone, Richard

driven to gloom by collapse of expectations. [Br. Lit.: Bleak House]

cave of Trophonius

oracle so awe-inspiring, consulters never smiled again. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 1103]

Eeyore

amusingly gloomy, morose donkey. [Children’s Lit.: Winnie-the-Pooh]

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

meditative poem of a melancholy mood. [Br. Lit.: Harvey, 266]

Ellis Island

immigration center where many families were separated; “isle of tears.” [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 193]

Gummidge, Mrs.

“lone lorn creetur” with melancholy disposition. [Br. Lit.: David Copperfield]

Hamlet

black mood dominates his consciousness. [Brit. Lit.: Shakespeare Hamlet]

hare

flesh brings melancholy to those who eat it. [Animal Symbolism: Mercatante, 125]

Il Penseroso

poem celebrating the pleasures of melancholy and solitude. [Br. Lit.: Milton Il Penseroso in Magill IV, 577]

Jaques

“can suck melancholy out of a song.” [Br. Lit.: As You Like It]

Mock Turtle

forever weeping and bemoaning his fate. [Br. Lit.: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland]

Mudville

no joy here when Casey struck out. [Am. Sports Lit.: “Casey at the Bat” in Turlin, 642]

Orpheus

composed, sang many melancholic songs in memory of deceased Eurydice. [Gk. Myth.: Orpheus and Eurydice, Magill I, 700–701]

Roquentin, Antoine

discomfited by his existence’s purposelessness, solitarily despairs. [Fr. Lit.: Nausea]

Sad Sack

hapless and helpless soldier; resigned to his fate. [Comics: Horn, 595–596]

Valley of the Shadow of Death

life’s gloominess. [O.T.: Psalms 23:4]

Wednesday’s

child full of woe. [Nurs. Rhyme: Opie, 309]

yew

tree symbolizes grief. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 178]