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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Mel-pŏm'e-nē, n.

noun

n. [Lat. Melpomene, from Gr. Μελπομένη, literally the songstress, from μέλπειν, μέλπεσθαι, to sing.]

  1. (Myth.) The Muse who presides over tragedy.
  2. The eighteenth asteroid.
A woman representing Melpomene stands in draped robes beside a tragic mask and holds a dagger.
Melpomene (from Eschenburg's My- thology).