melancholy

noun

1. (countable, historical, uncountable)Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.

   “Melancholy, cold and dry, thick, black, and sour, […] is a bridle to the other two hot humours, blood and choler, preserving them in the blood, and nourishing the bones.”

2. (countable, uncountable)Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.

   “My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.”

   “"The ancients referred melancholy to the mind, the moderns make it matter of digestion—to either case my plan applies," said Lady Mandeville.”

   “As to Ernest... He is quite as nervously broken down as I am but it manifests itself in different ways. His inclination is towards megalomania and mine towards melancholy.”

adj

1. (literary)Affected with great sadness or depression.

   “Melancholy people don't talk much.”

   “[…] he is melancholy without cause, and merry against the hair: […]”

   ““[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. […] And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […]””

2. Suggestive of wistfulness or subdued emotion.

   “Twice a day she took them out to feed in the marshy places, let them waddle and gobble for an hour or two, and then drove them back and shut them up in a small dark shed to digest their meal, whence they gave forth occasionally a melancholy quack.”

   “It was the same old song / With a melancholy sound.”