Meanings
plural exequies · alternative exsequy
- obsoletepluralFuneral rites.
Exequies of Saul obſerued with mourning weeping and faſting.
1609, Douay–Rheims Bible, Old Testament, volume I (1635 reprint), “The Second Book of Samuel, which we cal the Second of Kings.”, chapter i, marginal note b, page 5734 more examples
But yet, before we go, let’s not forget The noble Duke of Bedford late deceased, But see his exequies fulfill’d in Rouen:
1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]EDWARD. Whether goes my Lord of Couentrie so fast? BISHOP. To celebrate your fathers exequies,
1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page)More ſerious conjectures finde ſome examples of ſepulture in Elephants, Cranes, the Sepulchrall Cells of Piſmires and practice of Bees; which civill ſociety carrieth out their dead, and hath exequies, if not interrments.
1658, Thomas Browne, “Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall. […]. Chapter I”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 1We were accelerating along the Perth Road at a speed much faster than is normally associated with exequies.
2000, Kate Atkinson, Emotionally Weird, Black Swan (2001), page 191
Origin
- Latinexsequiās
- Old Frenchexequies
- Middle Englishexequies
- Englishexequy
A back-formation from exequies, from Middle English exequies, from Old French exequies, from Latin exsequiās, accusative of exsequiae (“a funeral, seeing-off procession”).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
exequy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exequy
“exequy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exequy. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “exequy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exequy.
Source: exequy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.