mourning

plural mournings

1. countableuncountableThe act of expressing or feeling sorrow or regret; lamentation.
2. countableuncountableSpecifically, the act of expressing or feeling grief regarding a death or loss.

   A blind bearing the monogram G.V.T. is pulled down over the waiting room window as if still in mourning for the passing of the railway.

   1941 June, “Notes and News: The Derelict Glyn Valley Tramway”, in Railway Magazine, page 279

3. countableuncountableA social state or period that acknowledges a recent bereavement, which may involve social withdrawal, the observance of customs or rituals related to bereavement, etc.

   2 more examples

   And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.

   1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax

   Unsurprisingly for a man who went into mourning for three years after the death in 1994 of his own father, the legendary leader Kim Il-sung, and who in the first 30 years of his political career made no public statements, even to his own people, Kim's career is riddled with claims, counter claims, speculation, and contradiction. There are few hard facts about his birth and early years.

   2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in The Guardian

4. countableuncountableThe traditional clothes worn by those who mourn (in Western societies, typically coloured black).

   ‘I'm bored. I can't go out anywhere because it's too soon and I have to wear this disgusting mourning.’

   1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 88

   1 more example

   "My greatest wish now," she added, "is to get back to Kansas, for Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning; and unless the crops are better this year than they were last, I am sure Uncle Henry cannot afford it."

   1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC

5. countableuncountableA drape or covering associated with mourning.

   The houses to their tops with black were spread, / And ev'n the pavements were with mourning hid.

   1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of mourn

plural Mournings

1. A surname.