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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.…

to the stature; -- worn by tragic actors in ancient Greece and Rome. Used as a symbol of tragedy, or the tragic drama, as distinguished from comedy. Great Fletcher never treads in buskins here, No greater Jonson dares in socks appear. Dryden.

Trodden by buskins; pertaining to tragedy. "The buskined stage." Milton.

The final event in a romance or a dramatic piece; a denouement, as a death in a tragedy, or a marriage in a comedy.

A band of singers and dancers. The Grecian tragedy was at first nothing but a chorus of singers. Dryden.

play in which mirth predominates and the termination of the plot is happy; -- opposed to tragedy. With all the vivacity if comedy. Macaulay. Are come to play a pleasant comedy. Shak.

Relating to comedy, as distinct from tragedy. I can not for the stage a drama lay, Tragic or comic, but thou writ'st the play. B. Jonson.

A buskin anciently used by tragic actors on the stage; hence, tragedy in general. The moment had arrived when it was thought that the mask and the cothurn might be assumed with effect. Motley.

Relating to tragedy; solemn; grave.

marking off by visible signs; separation into parts; division. [Obs.] The distinction of tragedy into acts was not known. Dryden.

To dress gaudily; to overdress; to bedizen; to deck out. Like a tragedy queen, he has dizened her out. Goldsmith. To-morrow when the masks shall fall That dizen Nature's carnival. Emerson.

The Muse of tragedy.

h an infinitive. "Sir Roger de Coverly... told me that he had a great mind to see the new tragedy with me." Addison. -- To lose one's mind, to become insane, or imbecile. -- To make up one's mind, to come to an opinion or decision; to determine. -- To put in mind, to remind. "Regard us simply as putting you in mind…

A dramatic composition; a comedy or tragedy; a composition in which characters are represented by dialogue and action. A play ought to be a just image of human nature. Dryden.

To serve as prelude to; to precede as introductory. [Music] preluding some great tragedy. Longfellow

private for experiment and improvement, before a public representation; as, to rehearse a tragedy.

Of or pertaining to satyrs; burlesque; as, satyric tragedy. P. Cyc.

Greece and Rome, -- used as a sumbol of comedy, of the comic drams, as distinguished from tragedy, which is symbolized by the buskin. Great Fletcher never treads in buskin here, Nor greater Jonson dares in socks appear. Dryden.

In the Greek tragedy, a song of the chorus, continued without the interruption of dialogue or anapæstics. Liddell & Scott.

A writer of tragedy. Thence what the lofty, grave, tragedians taught. Milton.