E‐le″gi‐ac (?; 277), a. [L. elegiacus, Gr. �: cf. F. élégiaque. See Elegy.] 1. Belonging to elegy, or written in elegiacs; plaintive; expressing sorrow or lamentation; as, an elegiac lay; elegiac strains.
Elegiac griefs, and songs of love. Mrs. Browning.
2. Used in elegies; as, elegiac verse; the elegiac distich or couplet, consisting of a dactylic hexameter and pentameter.